expenisve beauty
by aorslover504
Summary: when megan becomes a pretty the docters accidently gave her more beuty then any other pretty. a rare but prayed for mistake. with her new beuty she becomes populer. but the more time she spends around people. the more she realizes change. for the bad.
1. pretty town

I had waited sixteen years for this.

Pretty soon it would happen.

Pretty soon I would be everything I ever wanted to be.

Pretty soon I would be no longer considered a child.

Pretty, that's what I was going to become.

Pretty.

At the age of sixteen everyone would go through a surgery to become pretty.

So instead of spending my birthday with my friends playing tricks.

I was going to spend my birthday unconscious in an operating theater.

Having my skin peeled away, my bones grinded down.

My teeth pulled out and fake but nicer ones put it.

I would have my finger nails pulled off and they would be replaced.

Even my eyes were going to be changed.

My hair was going to be made perfectly straight and would be longer.

My one request to my surgeon.

"I want green eyes" I said before they started pumping the pain killers and other drugs to knock me out. "Do you have a preferred shade in mind?" the surgeon asked nicely.

"Yes, I want cat green, I don't care what else you do with me, just give me my green eyes please" I said. If I would have realized how vain that request was, I wouldn't have made it.

But it was considered normal to want something in your aprance that you did not have.

If you where happy with the way you where, they thought you were crazy.

But right then and there if David would have burst through those doors and asked me if I wanted to stay ugly.

I would have blinked a few times and call for help.

But now if he would give me that chance I would take it in a heartbeat.

You're wondering where I'm coming from with this and everything.

Well what I thought would be a normal life ended up to be one of the most bizarre yet wonderful life anyone could have ever wished for.

If you're crazy enough.

"Megan" a voice called.

"Megan" a voice called again.

I felt dizzy.

I opened my eyes and slowly sat up.

Smiling down was the surgeon.

"You got your green eyes just like you said Megan" he said handing me a mirror.

My skin yelled with pain.

It felt like I had fallen asleep on the beach.

I felt like a littlie.

I looked into the mirror and saw this dark haired beauty with shining green eyes.

"And if you change your mind, just come to the hospital and we can resurge them" he said smiling.

The doctor was handsome.

But not in the dreamy way.

Like any other middle pretty he had a face that anyone could trust.

My crumblies had that face.

Speaking of my parents Jan and Adam walked up smiling broadly.

"Well, our only daughter is now a beautiful pretty" Jan said.

"Your little brother is so excited to see you" Adam said smiling back.

They left eventually.

I was left to my own devices inside of a spacious dorm room.

With a hole in the wall that gave me what I wanted.

All I had to do was ask nicely and describe it with detail.

Not so hard.

I tried it out when I decided it was time to lose the boring grey cotton dress they gave me before I left. "Skinny jeans with a pair of black boots and black halter top" I said.

The light blinked and it booted up and then out came the neatly folded clothing.

I put it on and found everything fit perfectly.

I grabbed a hair band and tied my new long straight hair up.

I wasn't doing anything super fancy today.

Just me getting use to this town.

I started by taking a walk.

The place seemed to be deserted besides a couple or two walking around.

Some having picnics in a pleasure garden.

One group of pretties where swimming in a pool.

I shuddered and backed away from the pool.

I hated water so much.

I walked on and on until I saw a group of pretties floating on hover boards.

I gazed at the hover boards curiously.

I loved hover boarding.

I smiled to myself and ran back to my dorm and soon had my hover board under my arm and was walking outside.

I kicked it to life as I leapt on.

I thought I would feel uneasy on the hover board but instead I felt surer of myself then I have ever had on a hover board.

Due to my new muscles.

Ignoring the burning all over my body I leaned forward.

I shot through the trees.

I laughed joyfully as I zoomed around.

But I noticed something odd.

Every time I saw the rare hover boarder they were just floating with the breeze.

Maybe that was the way to do it in new pretty town.

I slowed down in the public places not wanting to look stupid.

But the moment I got into the woods I would speed up again.

I closed my eyes and let the feel of my hair whipping around my head.

I pulled my hair out of its tight hold and allowed it to fly everywhere.

My board buzzed and I got a warning ping.

I was entering restricted area.

I halted and turned sharply.

I flew up a few feet and then zoomed off in the opposite direction.

When I got back to my dorm I sighed.

I did not have any friends in or out of pretty town.

I had always been a loner.

So I guess I wasn't going to be getting into any of the big bashes.

But it wouldn't hurt to try out a few hotspots tonight.

After doing my research I found a few cliques I might want to consider joining.

One was a fashion clique.

I had always had a thing for fashion but couldn't really shine into that area.

Dorm uniforms where to be worn all the time.

There was a clique all about hot air balloons.

The hot-airs or something like that.

One clique caught my eye in particular.

The crims.

Let's pause the story for a moment.

If I had known what was in store for me with the crims.

I would have ran even faster to them.

If I had known where it would lead me, I wouldn't have wasted my time in the fashion clique.

I nodded and got up and decided the fashion clique was good enough for me.

I checked the feeds and found they where partying at Valentino mansion.

They were having a formal.

Perfect, formal was my good spot.

I smiled and got to work on a new dress design.

My alarm pinged me at seven warning me I had to get ready for nine.

I bravely got up and inserted the memory stick I had saved the design on into a slot in my wall.

The whole in the wall hummed slightly and out came everything in the design.

I then laid it on the bed and showered.

I got dressed and styled my hair and did my makeup carefully.

I sighed and nervously left my dorm.

In the elevator a few pretties where laughing and talking.

They stopped talking when they saw me and their faces twisted in shock.

I looked down self consciously.

I had messed up.

They stared at me as I walked out of the elevator.

The walk down to the bash was the same.

People stopping their conversations to stare at me.

I breathed in deeply at the door.

The pretties at the door where to shocked to say anything so I dove in.

they probably let me in just for everyone's amusement.

I could see it now.

The rumors.

"Hey did you hear about that new pretty who came to a fashion cliques bash in out clothing? She was hideous!" the imaginary person in my head repeated this to me.

I walked into a hallway and looked into a mirror that was hanging in the hall.

There stood a girl with her long brown hair with a reddish tint was shining in the light.

It was neatly put up.

Her green eyes glowed, the golden specks shone.

She had eyeliner on that emphasized her eyes.

Her face paler then anyone could imagen.

Her lips perfectly red and round.

Her long green dress that touched the ground and hid her flats rippled down her in such a way it looked like a green waterfall.

The color of the dress also matched her eyes perfectly.

It looked fine to me, but I guess I wasn't meant to be in a fashion clique.

I sighed and walked to a party tower.

I sat there on a balcony watching the sky line.

"Hey! You! Come here" someone shouted.

I turned and saw two girls smiling at me.

I looked around and saw I was the only one on the balcony.

I shyly stepped forward.

"You have to come with us!" one of the girls said grabbing my hand and pulling me.

They pulled me through the party tower and onto the roof.

There a group of pretty girls and handsome guys stood waiting.

They all had sky blue on.

I gulped nervously.

The girls had bought me here to be ridiculed and made the laughing stock.

"Angie look what we found!" one girl said.

"It's that little mouse everyone has been whispering about" the other said.

A very pretty girl looked up from her date and her face froze in shock.

She walked forward and circled me.

"Where did you get this design?" she asked.

"I.i.i made it I" I said.

The girl named Angie nodded to herself.

"The makeup?" she asked.

"I did it myself" I muttered looking down.

"Well, I guess you will do, welcome to the clique" she said smiling.

I did not know what to think.

I nodded and smiled weakly.

Angie grabbed some Champaign off a tray and handed it to me.

"Loosen up Hun, this is a bash get drunk" she said.

I smiled and sipped the sweet drink.

The two girls from before cheered and clapped me on the back.

Everyone pressed in to welcome me.

I introduced myself and they were surprised this was my first night out.

"Thanks for letting me in Angie, I appreciate it" I said.

She smiled and went back to her date.

He was extremely handsome.

He nodded to me and winked before turning his attention to Angie.

"I can't believe you guys let me in" I said to the two girls from before.

"Well how could Angie not let you in? You're extremely pretty; I'm surprised the pretty committee let you out of the hospital! I think your prettier than any other pretty out hear" one said.

"Ya, come on look in the mirror and then at us and tell us your not prettier" the other said.

"But Angie acted like I was the lowest form allowed in, she acted like I barely made It in" I said.

"Ignore her, she is jealous. She did not want us in at first because we are twins." They both said.

I looked at both girls carefully.

There red hair was two tints away.

One darker than the other.

Their eyes where similar but one darker blue then the other.

They both had the same facial features but different cheek bones.

They must have been identical before the operation.

"why dose you two being twins make it bad?" I asked.

"twins are hot these days, and anything that could be considered hotter or prettier then her she dosent like. She had to let us in so her clique would have good credit. She sees your pretty so she made it seem like your some lucky little rat who is her new dress up doll. But in honesty you're a sweet cute mouse" the girl with the darker eyes said.

"I'm bree" the one with darker hair said.

"And I'm Ashley" the one with the dark eyes said.

I smiled.

The rest of the night was one long party.

The sun was rising when I stumbled home with bree and Ashley singing some popular song on either side of me.

"Hello ladies" a group of boys jeered at us.

"Oh go get a life" Ashley laughed.

"You told them Ashley" bree laughed.

"This is my dorm" I said grinning stupidly.

"Cool! We don't remember where are dorm is" Ashley and bree giggled together.

"Then come crash with me" I yelled out grabbing their hands.

"Okay! Floor is rather cozy" bree joked.

I woke up around five p.m snuggled in-between the twins.

I groaned as I sat up.

I had a headache.

Bree got up next and she stumbled over to the lights and turned them on.

I closed my eyes "turn it down" I complained.

"We got to wake up" she mumbled.

"Bree I'm going to kill you if you don't turn those lights off now" Ashley said from under the covers. "Shut up ash" bree said.

Fifteen minutes later a service tray came in loaded and Ashley and I where finally sitting up.

"Hear drink this Megan, it will help" bree said handing me a bloody Mary.

"More alcohol?" I asked.

"Yea weird huh? But it will stop the room from spinning" she said sipping her own.

Ashley was chugging hers down more than sipping it.

The bloody did make the room stop spinning.

"Wow, why do you guys do this every night?" I groaned standing up.

I was still wearing the dress from last night.

My hair was tangled and messy.

"Because it is fun while doing it, hangovers are just a bad part" bree said stretching.

"Well, I'm crashing again" I mumbled.

"No you're not, we have a bash tonight" Ashley said grabbing my wrist.

"Casual" bree said.

"Maybe we should shower then" I said trying to ignore the dull ache.

"We are going to our dorm, tonight's color is green in your honor" bree said.

"See you there" Ashley said smiling.

They left and I showered and dressed.

For the next two months this is how I was.

Partied then woke up feeling like shit and partied until I couldn't feel anything.

This was a good life, or so I thought.

But then I had a run in with the crims.

I got out of the fashion clique.

Then began my rebellious life that would change the globe.

That would help change how people thought.

That would change me forever.


	2. fausto

I woke up to my door chime.

"Who is it?" I asked.

The room told me who it was.

The twins came in soon.

"No partying tonight because tomorrow we have a picnic" bree announced.

"We want to look good and not hung over" Ashley said.

"We always look good, but hung over I can say different for" I mumbled.

I put my head deep under the covers.

"She needs a beer or something" Ashley said.

"Beer? An ugly drink?" I asked.

"Well yes, ugly nick names are back in, and so are ugly drinks" bree said.

A tray came gliding in a few minutes later three bottles of beer.

I sipped it and realized I actually liked the taste of beer.

I hated it when I was an ugly.

But that was a cheap version of it; this must be real beer they save for pretties.

"This is actually good" I said taking another sip.

"Well, ugly style beer is more in but the tray bot doesn't understand it. So we sneak into ugly bashes and take some. But Angie is saving it all for a special occasion." Bree said.

"Rumor is she is having the clique hand in all there ugly style beer." Ashley said.

"She is going to be serving it at her birthday party" bree laughed.

"But she has at least six months to go" I said laughing.

"Ya but she is going to be having ALL the fashion cliques good and bad coming" Ashley said.

"Making our clique look like a friendly clique nice enough to share our special store of ugly beer" they both said.

"That's bubbly" I said laughing.

"Well let's go for a walk! Maybe we can get breakfast" bree said.

"Good idea" Ashley said.

We got dressed and walked down to a pleasure garden.

A few other groups where there.

We waved at a group we knew from another fashion clique.

We sat and watched a sports clique play a game of extreme Frisbee.

"Who is that?" a girl name Emma asked.

I looked at where she was pointing.

A group of pretties where sitting a little off.

"Oh I think they are crims why?" bree said.

"That boy is majorly cute" Emma said.

I looked to where she was looking and saw a boy with brown hair.

"Well then" Ashley said.

"Lets go" bree said.

Bree and Ashley each grabbed one of Emma's wrists and pulled her up and pulled her over to the group. They stopped a few feet away and gave her a firm push.

She went forward and stumbled a little.

The boy looked up and smiled.

"Um hello" Emma said.

"Hello" the boy said.

"Goodbye" Emma said.

She turned but the twins where blocking her path.

"Or not" Emma squealed.

"Nice friends" the boy laughed.

"We should play Frisbee" bree said suddenly.

"Come on then! We need two more players though" Ashley said.

"To bad" bree said.

"Unless" Ashley said.

"You two want to play" they said together.

I giggled at the twins.

"Sure I'm game" the boy said getting up.

"My name is peris by the way" the boy said.

"I'm Emma" Emma replied.

"Come on Megan you to!" bree shouted.

"Anyone wanna even it out?" Ashley asked.

"Sure I'm game" another boy said standing up.

"Ok fausto lets go" peris said.

I sighed and got up.

"Okay first team to the trees win!" Ashley said tossing the Frisbee up.

Peris shot up and grabbed the Frisbee.

Emma was already running.

Peris threw the Frisbee to Emma but bree shot up and grabbed it.

She tossed it to Ashley who ran and tossed it back.

I watched them for a moment then ran beside Ashley.

"You have a bee in your hair" I shouted.

She freaked and threw the Frisbee up to bat the bee out of her hair.

I grabbed the Frisbee then threw it to fausto.

"That was a mean trick" Ashley yelled as fausto caught the Frisbee and threw it past the trees.

"Good job fausto" I called.

Onlookers cheered as fausto ran up to me and hauled me up in a hug.

"Good job!" he shouted.

I laughed.

He put me down "my name is Megan" I said offering him my hand.

"Fausto" he replied smiling.

"So you're in a fashion clique?" fausto asked.

I nodded.

"I actually was either going to be in a hot air balloon clique or the crims but I decided to keep it simple." I said.

"Crims huh? We are a pretty awesome group, ping me if you change your mind, we could use people like you" fausto said.

"So what are the crims about?" I asked.

"Well we are free spirits playing tricks and trying to stay bubbly" fausto said.

I nodded.

"Hm, well, I like the clique I'm in now, so it takes a lot of convincing to get me in" I said smiling.

"Okay then, tomorrow night come to the new skating ring. Be ready for a trick" fausto said.

I nodded slowly.

"okay then what time?" I asked.

He gave me the time.

I nodded and then went back to the twins.

"Okay we meant to get Emma a boy, but getting Megan a boy! This is way better" Ashley said.

"Exactly, two months in this town and your still single" bree said.

"What did he say?" they both chimed.

"Nothing, I'm going skating tomorrow night with him that's all" I said

. "You little lair" the twins said.

"Bubbly huh?" I said.

We got up and started walking back.

"Well! Do you like him?" bree asked.

"Is it love at first sight?" Ashley asked.

"I just met the guy chill out, I bet you he is just going to be another bogus pretty just trying to show off" I said.

"Or he could be an amazingly bubbly pretty who is going to show you a good time" bree said.

"Shut up" I mumbled.

The twins laughed.

I woke up the next day and went to the picnic.

"So word on the street is that you have a date tonight" Angie said.

"No, I'm just going skating with a guy I met yesterday" I said sipping a mango juice.

"In other words a date" Angie said smiling.

"Okay you can call it that" I said shrugging.

Angie smiled devilishly.

"What's his name?" she asked.

"Fausto" I replied sipping my beer.

"You know those two names go perfectly together, Megan and fausto" Angie said looking up to the sky. "Um, okay" I said confused.

"Imagine how bubbly it be, you two skating under the moon light, you slip and he catches you. You gaze into each other's eyes and then kiss." Angie said.

"That's kind of bogus actually" I said.

Angie shrugged.

"Make sure you get some work done before though, you need to look nice" she said.

"I think I'm good how I am" I said.

"That's what you thing but if you ask me you could use some work" Angie said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, you are the plainest pretty I have ever seen. Don't want to be too boring for him" she said shrugging.

I looked down feeling kind of hurt.

I met fausto at the hover rink after the party.

He was already skating around.

When he spotted me he waved and skidded spraying ice on a couple skating.

They laughed and fausto skated to the rink skate rental.

"Hey glad you could make it Megan" fausto said smiling.

"I'm glad to, so should I get some skates?" I asked.

Fausto nodded and smiled.

I got my skates on then glided out onto the ice.

Fausto skated next to me ready to catch me if I fell.

"I'm not going to fall fausto" I said laughing.

"Not yet you aren't." Fausto said smiling.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing" he replied.

"So when is this trick happening?" I asked.

"When Zane and tally get hear" fausto said.

"We are all going to huddle into a circle and then its happening" fausto said.  
"And whatever you do, don't mention to the warders that this was planned and that we did it" fausto said quickly.

"Okay?" I said nervously.

"Trust me Megan, it's going to be very bubbly" fausto said.

I nodded and continued skating.

"There they are" fausto said suddenly.

I halted and fausto pointed to a couple who where just getting on the rink.

The boy had black hair and the girl had beautiful brown hair.

They smiled at each other and held hands as they skated.

"They are the leaders pretty much, first Zane and then as soon as tally appeared they started dating" fausto said.

"Really?" I asked.

"Come on its time" fausto said taking my hand.

He pulled me into a circle that had just formed.

Everyone was opening flasks and dumping a liquid out of it.

The heavy scent of vodka hit me.

"Doesn't alcohol melt ice?" I asked nervously.

"Yup" fausto said smiling widely.

"This is dangerous" I said watching the vodka spread.

"We have bungee jackets we will be okay" fausto said.

I tightened my grip on fausto and before I could as much as breath Zane came flying through the circle and slammed down right into the puddle of vodka.

The ice cracked and then suddenly broke.

I felt myself slowly sink downwards then I was flying down into the stadium.

I heard screams coming from the crowd below.

A soccer game was about to start so the stadium was packed.

I screamed loudly as I watched the ground come closer and closer.

Fausto was shouting with glee as we both hit the ground.

We bounced right back up.

It was a good thing that the ice rink made everyone wear bungee jackets while skating.

I bounced up and felt fausto's hand slip from my grasp.

"No!" I shouted stretching my hand back out.

I watched fausto bounce away.

I hit the ground again and felt something solid.

I got up and realized I was on top of the score board.

I clutched on to the board nervously.

Fausto came running over.

"Jump down!" he cried.

"Okay I'm coming" I shouted back.

I jumped off the score board and bounced over fausto and came to a halt a few feet away.

Fausto ran to me slipping on shards of ice.

He flew right into me and I caught him from falling over.

We both ended up falling and I looked at him and saw he had ice all over his face and head.

I burst out laughing and fausto did to.

Wardens where swarming the field first aid kits in hand.

They looked very worried.

A warden knelt next to us.

"Are you two okay?" he asked worried.

We were laughing too hard to answer.

"" fausto finally managed to say.

"Okay you should get up and take your skates off." The warden said.

Fausto got up and helped me up to.

We took our skates off and they gave us a pair of shoes to wear.

Standard grey like everything they sent pretties off with.

That night after being questioned and released the crims where having a bond fire to celebrate.

Fausto brought me along.

"So you must be Megan" a girl said sitting next to us.

"Yes" I replied.

"My name is shay" she said handing me a glass of champagne.

"Thanks" I said.

"So was that bubbly enough for you?" shay asked.

"Oh yes it was fun!" I said.

"Well then, Zane come here" shay called.

The boy with black hair got up and shay went to sit with tally.

"Hello Megan" he said.

"Wow everyone seems to know my name" I said.

"Fausto warned us you were going to be around today" Zane said smiling.

"Well that's nice to know" I replied.

"How would you like to join the crims? You proved yourself today by keeping cool and not panicking. Also it was bubbly that you kept your mouth shut" Zane said.

"Um, wow a spot in the crims. I'm in another clique right now" I said nervously.

"That fashion clique?" Zane said laughing.

"Yes that fashion clique" I said.

"There parties are nothing compared to ours, think about it okay?" Zane said.

I nodded and he went to sit next to tally again.

"You know what fausto, how about you come to hang with my clique to!" I said.

Fausto looked up from the piece candy he had been chewing on.

"Sure why not" he said.

I smiled and around one a.m I ended up passed out drunk deep in the pleasure gardens.

The next morning I woke up with a major headache and the world badly spinning.

I sat up and looked around groggily.

A service bot was cleaning up the remains of our party.

Fausto groaned and sat up rubbing his forehead.

We both had clothing on thankfully.

I looked at him and laughed.

"What?" he asked.

"You look so bogus right now, all bashed and hangover" I said ruffling his hair.

"Ya and you look like the frog prince" he mumbled pulling me back down.

"I think we should move this snuggle fest to one of our dorms" I whispered into his ear

. "Nuhmp, it's nice out here. I have you as a blanket and you have me as a mattress" he said wrapping his arms around me.

"The wardens" I said.

Those where the magic words.

He was up quickly and looking around.

"Come on my dorm is across town" he said taking my hand.

"Wait, mine is just next to this pleasure garden, faster to go there" I said tugging him in the other direction.

When we got to my dorm I ordered two beers and two bloody marys.

"This should stop the world from spinning long enough to put some food down" I said yawning.

"Thanks Megan-la" fausto said.

After the room stopped spinning and the headache faded I ordered some food and then passed out again with fausto snuggled right next to me.

After I met fausto things changed.

After I met fausto my personality changed.

After I met fausto my whole entire existents changed

. After I met fausto I changed.

Everything changed.

The boy with the perfect brown hair and loving look.


	3. escape

"We should get going" fausto whispered into my ear.

"The world is spinning to fast again, later" I said.

"Come on, we need to go" fausto said again.

"Nope" I said turning over.

"I'm going to tickle you if you don't wake up" he said in my ear.

"Not bubbly fausto, I might end up puking on you and that would be very bogus" I said snuggling in to his chest.

"Okay you sleep, I'm going to go play with my hover board" he said.

"Okay have fun my littlie" I said tossing a pillow in his face.

I dozed off again and woke up a few hours later.

It took me a moment to realize why fausto wasn't next to me.

"Oh, his hover board" I mumbled.

I sat up and looked out the window.

It was raining hard.

"I hope he doesn't fall off his board" I said to the room.

"Locate fausto" I said.

"Fausto not located" the room chimed.

"He must be outside" I mumbled.

I got dressed

"If fausto comes direct him straight to my inbox" I said before leaving.

"Request accepted" the room chimed as I slammed the door closed.

I strapped my crash bracelets on as I went to the elevator.

While I was riding down I snapped my belly sensor on.

I shivered when I stepped outside.

I called my board from its rack and it was gliding off to find fausto a moment later.

I checked all the usale places and found he wasn't there.

"Well that's bogus" I said.

I hovered to the outer edges of the city.

I paused before entering the factory belt.

He wouldn't be out there.

Or would he?

Fausto was weird after all.

I continued on I ended up in ugly territory soon.

I came up to a muddy soccer field.

I saw a group of people.

I was about to come up to them and ask if they had seen fausto but I paused mid flight.

They where pretties.

Pretties I knew.

Crims.

I lowered myself behind some bushes and watched.

Shay was standing in the center of a circle of crims and a few outsiders I did not know.

I had agreed to be a crim just two nights ago.

Shay was speaking then she took a knife.

"What the hell" I whispered.

She took the knife and pressed it to her skin and made a long deep cut.

She passed the blade around and everyone cut themselves with it.

I gasped.

If this what the crims where about, I did not want anything to do with it.

I backed up from the bush and sped off fast.

I turned and dove quickly dodging trees.

Then something flew in front of me and I hit a solid figure.

I flew off my board and after I was safely put back on the ground thanks to my bracelets I looked to see who I hit.

Fausto was sitting on the ground soaking wet.

"Fausto" I squealed.

I knelt next to him.

"Bogus move Megan" he said standing up.

"Me bogus? At least I'm not on my way to go slice my skin apart" I burst out.

"What?" fausto said looking up shocked.

"You and your crims friends cutting yourselves. I saw shay and the other crims through the tree's cutting themselves. Your late I'm guessing so just go and have your fun, don't ping me" I said turning to leave.

Fausto grabbed my hand.

"What the hell are you talking about? Shay cutting herself with other crims?" he asked.

"Okay then denies it come on" I said.

He followed me to the bush I had been hiding behind.

"Tally and Zane need to know about this, the crims don't do this stuff" fausto said.

"How do I know you're not lying?" I asked.

He pulled his jacket sleeve up and showed me his arm.

No sign of cuts on his arm.

I checked both of them.

He was clean.

I hugged him "thank god" I said.

"Go home okay. I'm going to deal with this" fausto said.

He bought me home then disappeared.

"Fausto" the room announced an hour later.

I got up and let him in personally.

He was soaking wet a shivering.

"Oh god you poor thing" I said grabbing a heated towel.

I turned the room heat up and when fausto was dried and in clean dry clothing I pulled him under the covers of my bed.

"We are leaving the city" he whispered.

"Why?" I whispered back.

"The city is lying to us! The whole world is lying to us, we are not right in the head" fausto said his voice rising slightly.

"What?" I asked shocked.

"Ever wonder why everyone is so different and lazy after the operation?" he asked putting his mouth to my ear.

"Well yes, but I thought it was from growing up" I said.

"Do you think someone can really mentally mature within a few hours?" fausto asked so softly I barley heard it.

"Not really" I admitted.

"They are putting lesions in our brains, to make us this way. Tally found this out accidentally! Have you ever heard of smoke?" fausto asked.

"Sounds familiar, I think I heard something about it when I was an ugly" I said.

"Smoke is a group of all uglies most of them past there sixteenth birthdays. They found out about the lesions one way or another so they ran off to stay clearheaded. Sacrificing amazing looks. The pretty operation is just a huge cover up!" fausto said.

"A cover up, a way to make people want the surgery so they can put the lesions. I doubt anyone would willingly have surgery to mess with their brains" I said.

We are leaving tonight, we need to get ready." Fausto said.

"Okay, where do I meet you, what do I bring?" I asked getting up.

"Camping stuff! A sleeping bag, water purifier and dehydrated food" fausto said getting up.

"Anything else?" I asked.

"I suggest you bring some sun block patches and stuff. Survival kit is nessicary I will have it for you though. Just get these things" fausto said handing me a paper.

"This is hand written" I gasped into his ear.

"I learned penmanship when I was an ugly, the officials can read our pings, it's another way to control and monitor people. I will ping you when its time. It will ping you when it is time" fausto said.

"So, you in on the camping trip this weekend?" fausto asked loudly rubbing my shoulders.

"I'm not too sure, I mean in the wild?" I said playing along.

"Come on babe, I'm here to protect you" he said.

"Okay I guess" I said.

"Okay see you at the party tonight" he said.

The room could record us; this was a possible mistake even talking in the room about this.

"I have to go, I will ping you" fausto said kissing me.

He left and snapped into action.

I picked my clothing carefully.

Warm but not heavy, sturdy grip shoes for hover boarding.

Warm gloves that went to my shoulders and the palms padded.

I got a camo sleeping bag from bree.

I also got a camo backpack from Ashley.

They had requested them for me without asking questions.

They knew something was up though.

Then I waited.

I sat around nervously fiddling with my ring.

The room announced I had a ping.

I played it.

"Hey Megan-la, come on your missing a great party! Bring the surprise we discussed! Everyone will be thrilled when they see what we have!" fausto was shouting over music.

I smiled and left.

Before I closed the door I swept a look around my room.

I stopped by the twins dorms who where next door to each other.

I put a hand drawn picture of the three of us on the wall in-between the doors.

I left after that and met fausto at the mansion he sent the ping from.

He was waiting for me on the tower.

"Come on, take this" he said handing me a long distance hover board.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Up there" he said pointing to a balloon.

"Come on" he said.

I watched him inch up the metal chain and safely into the basket.

I gulped and I got on my board.

I slowly inched up the chain.

"Hurry" a voice cried from the balloon.

"Calm down she is obviously scared" I heard Zane say.

"Why are we bringing her? She just got with us!" someone complained.

"Because I'm not leaving her" fausto's voice said.

I came into the basket a few moments later.

"I have ears stupid" I announced when I was in the basket.

"Sorry" a pretty mumbled.

We took off and flew over the city slowly.

"Here is the plan, we will hover to the ruins then we will jump out and the river should catch us, there are metal deposits in it so we should be okay. Before we go leave your ring in the basket and take this" fausto said handing me a small box.

I put it in my bag and then tally and Zane put long nearly invisible gloves on their hands.

I saw a cuff for the first time.

The glove ran under the cuff.

"What is that?" I whispered to fausto.

"The city is tracking them through it they know something is up" fausto said.

"How will they get it off?" I asked.

"You will see in a moment" fausto said.

"Okay its time" Zane said lifting his hand up.

He stood on the edge of the basket.

He then lifted himself up to the top of the guard rail.

He held a metal coil holding the balloon to the basket.

Then he put his other arm right into the furnace fueling the balloon.

"He will burn his arm off" I said franticly.

"Those gloves are heat resistant you could put your hand into a fire and not feel a thing" fausto said.

I calmed down a little.

The cuff grew red and the white.

Zane then withdrew his hand and pulled the cuff off with a little difficulty.

The cuff bounced into the edge of the balloon.

The toxic smell of molten metal hit my nose as tally hoisted herself up to where Zane had been.

Zane leapt down and took the glove off and massaged his hand.

"That kind of hurt, not burn but not pleasant more like squeezed hard" he mumbled.

"I got mine" tally said tossing hers into the basket.

"Okay rings off jump!" tally said.

"What's that smell" I asked.

There was a burning smell.

I looked down and saw the wicker in the basket catching fire.

The cuff had set the basket alight.

We started jumping one at a time or in pairs.

Fausto took my hand.

"I will find you if we split up" fausto said kissing me.

He pushed me and I fell right out the basket.

I screamed as I flew through the air.

I clutched the board to my body tightly.

I started slowing and my board smacked the water hard.

I went under for a moment before I was pushed out by my hover board.

I started crying.

I hated water; I clutched my board even tighter and bawled like a baby frozen on top of the rapids. "MEGAN!" a voice screamed.

I looked up and saw the basket far away and smoke coming from it.

"MEGAN WHERE ARE YOU!" fausto screamed franticly.

"MEGAN!" another voice called.

"ZANE?" fausto shouted.

"YES!" Zane yelled.

"WHERE IS MEGAN!" fausto yelled.

"IT'S TO DARK WHERE ARE YOU?" Zane called.

"ON THE SHORE! WE HAVE TO FIND MEGAN!" fausto yelled.

I was too scared to call out fausto.

I could only cry.

I saw the water get closer and closer then drift away.

"MEGAN!" their voices started calling.

"I FOUND HER" someone shouted.

A hand touched my shoulder and I screamed and let go.

I hit the water.

I screamed but only got a mouth full of water.

I sunk into the blackness.

Like when I was a littlie and I sunk into the blackness of the lake.

Then I was pulled up and on the surface.

I screamed and coughed.

"GET ME OUT GET ME OUT!" I screamed kicking.

"STOP KICKING!" zane's voice yelled into my ear.

"THE WATER THE WATER" I screamed.

But I stopped kicking.

I felt the bottom brush against my feet.

Once I felt the bank with my hands I scrambled out and ran until I tripped and stumbled.

I curled up and started shaking.

"Is she okay?" someone asked.

"I think she is afraid of water" Zane said.

"That's bogus" someone said.

"Megan your okay!" fausto said.

I sat up and hugged the figure.

"Um you're squashing me" Zane's voice came.

I let Zane go "sorry I thought you where fausto" I said embarrassed.

"I'm right here" fausto said from my other side.

I reached out and a hand took mine.

"Your okay" fausto said.

I hugged fausto.

"I'm sorry, I nearly drowned when I was a little I haven't liked water since" I said breathing hard.

"I understand, when we start boarding I want you to look ahead not down okay? We need the river to travel" fausto said.

I nodded and five minutes later we where gliding off.

"Good move going water proof with all your clothing and gear" fausto said as we moved along at a fast rate.

"I feel bogus now, I'm going to go apologize to Zane" I said speeding up to Zane.

"Hey Zane-la, I'm sorry about being so bogus" I said.

"It's okay; I understand fausto explained it to me.

I had nearly drowned I would have been afraid of water to" Zane said.

"Ya but I am being bogus about it." I said.

"No you're not; you're being brave about it right now. Your over water right now, a normal pretty would have stayed behind after that. I know you're a good smokie now" Zane said.

"Thanks Zane-la" I said.

"No problem Megan-la" he said.

I slowed down and then sped up when I got next to fausto.

"Bogus move pushing me out the basket like that" I said as we flew on.

"I had to Megan, there was the chance that you would have chickened out and stayed. I don't think I could have gone through the wild without you then I would go back to the city" he said.

"Ya but we could have jumped together" I pointed out.

"No it was too dangerous if we both jumped like that. One at a time make sure no one landed on someone" fausto said.

"Okay just warn me next time you push me out of a balloon okay?" I asked.

"Okay" fausto said.

We traveled for a few hours until we got to a tower in the ruins.

The highest tower in the ruins.

There someone was waiting.

He was ugly and he had a big nose and crooked smile.

He had a scar going through his eyebrow.

When we got up there he smiled.

"Hello my name is David and I'm here to bring you to the new smoke" he said.

That very moment, things changed.

I had finally met David.

I new life would start for me.

A life where I did not fear water as much as I use to.

A life where I became famous for my inventions.

A life where I became the person I am today.

The real Megan.


	4. waiting

"Where is tally?" David asked.

"Well, we thought she had flown ahead" Zane said.

"No, she hasn't arrived yet; I thought she would arrive with you?" David said.

"Well, we never found her or her friend peris for that matter" fausto said.

"We should wait. They did jump out last after all" Zane said.

David nodded

"fine let me call croy to take you to a safer camping spot" David said.

"Croy?" I asked.

"He is another smokie I bought him with me just in case" David said getting up.

He took a safety sparkler and lit it then threw it down to the ground.

I watched it fall to the ground.

A few minutes later a figure crawled up the side of the tower slowly.

Then he came through the entrance.

"Hey" the new boy asked.

"Croy?" I asked.

His name rung a bell in my head.

"Yes?" he asked.

It was dark I couldn't see his face.

"Flashlight?" I asked.

Someone handed me a heavy metal object.

I switched the flashlight on and shone it around.

It hit the new figures face.

I dropped the flashlight.

Croy and I had been best friends since littlies and he had gone missing a week before his operation and a month before mine.

"CROY!" I shouted hugging him.

"MEGAN?" he asked.

"YES!" I shouted back.

"It's so good to see you!" croy said hugging me tightly.

"You too! I thought you were never coming back" I said.

"This is nice and all but how do you guys know each other?" Zane asked.

"Remember that girl I told you about? The one who always use to throw soccer balls at me during recess when I was a littlie?" croy asked.

"Ya it was funny" Zane said.

"Well this is the girl, we became best friends later" croy said.

"Oh the girl you use to ditch us for all the time" Zane said laughing.

I heard fausto shift uneasily.

"Oh croy this is my boyfriend fausto" I said smiling and letting him go.

Croy laughed

"someone dating this tom-boy? Good to know you won't be alone forever" croy said.

"Shut up" I replied.

"Nice to meet you croy" fausto's voice came from behind me.

His hand slid onto my arm.

I took his hand.

"Okay, tally hasn't shown up yet nor has peris so I want you to take them to the camping spot and hide their till morning. Come check with me if I'm not back by sundown" David said.

"Okay man, come on guys get your gear and boards" croy said.

I stepped onto my board and we all glided down the ruin one by one in a line.

Fausto behind me and croy leading.

I was second in line.

We flew for an hour before stopping.

"Okay guys come on let's make camp" croy said tossing his stuff down.

"So we should like start a fire or something, kind of bogus being in the dark" fausto said putting his stuff down.

"No" croy said.

"Why?" fausto asked.

"To close to the city for that, wardens are bound to be on the lookout" croy said.

"Then what do we do?" fausto asked.

"We eat self heated meals in the dark and then get into our sleeping bags and crash? Did you bring that stuff?" croy asked.

"Yes we all did" I said quickly.

Fausto snorted and sat down.

"Okay?" croy said.

We all sat in a group in the dark and the pings of our meals rang out every few moments or so.

I sat between croy and fausto.

Zane was sitting on the other side of fausto digging into some padthai.

I opened my own can of eggsal.

"This is good" I said taking some with a plastic spoon.

"Here this is better" croy said holding his plastic fork out

. I opened my mouth and a warm forkful of marinara and meat came into my mouth.

"That's good" I said chewing.

"Its spagbol, but tally hates it" croy said with humor in his voice.

"Here Megan try this to" fausto said.

I turned and a point hit me in the cheek.

"Ow fausto not bubbly" I said wiping padthai off my face.

"Sorry" he said.

"It's okay" I said laughing.

I leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

I heard a thud and something slimy was going down my leg.

"EW croy! Stop being so bogus" I said.

"Sorry" he said.

"Its okay" I said patting him on the shoulder.

"Well I'm done and I'm crashing" Zane said putting his half eaten maccheese down.

"Me to" I said putting my barely eaten eggsal down.

I yanked my sleeping bag out of my sack and I rolled it out in a soft spot.

Fausto pulled his out and laid it next to me.

Croy went and laid his by my head.

"Hey its cold want to cuddle up into one bag?" fausto asked.

"Sure, your right we should all try to pair up" I said.

"Okay guys let's try to sleep in pairs, it's going to be cold tonight" I shouted.

Everyone laughed and paired up.

"Um I'm alone" croy said.

"There is me" Zane said shrugging.

"Um you're a guy" croy said.

"So? We could freeze to death" Zane said putting his sleeping bag down.

"I'm good" croy said.

"What ever man" Zane said.

We all fell asleep soon and the next morning I woke up to fausto and croy eating breakfast with Zane. Fausto and croy where glaring at each other and Zane was looking at them with confusion and slight fear.

"What's wrong with you two?" I asked.

"Him" they both said.

"Stop being stupid both of you, fausto are my boyfriend and croy is my best friend. It's not changing with either of you so quit it!" I said.

They both looked down.

"Sorry" fausto was the first to say.

"Sorry" croy said.

"I guess I'm just not use to the idea of having to share you with another" croy said.

"I wished I had met you before the pretty operation so that's why I'm jealous" fausto said.

"Well then! Isn't we a happy bubbly family now?" Zane said.

We laughed and ate breakfast.

At noon the boys went to the river to bathe.

I sat in camp poking sticks around.

Fausto promised to bring some water back in a crude handmade bucket so I could go off in the woods and give myself a sponge bath.

I sighed as I looked up.

I saw some bushes move.

I got up and threw the stick I was breaking into pieces down.

I slowly walked to the bushes and pulled them back.

There a pathetic little kitten was mewing.

"Your out mighty far, how bogus" I said to myself.

I looked around the camp and on the edges of it and found no signs of its mother.

I walked a few feet into the woods then farther in.

I stopped only when I nearly lost view of camp.

I walked back rechecking the places I had looked.

I went back to the bushes and the kitten was sitting up looking at me.

"I most likely shouldn't touch you, but if your mama is not back by the time you leave I'm taking you with me" I promised it.

The boys came back and I mentioned the kitten to croy.

"Show me" he said.

I bought him to the bushes.

The kitten was fast asleep.

"That's not a kitten" croy said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"A bob cat" croy said.

"Are they dangerous?" I asked.

"when they are wild and full grown, something must have happened to the mother, it's rare for any type of feline to even let their cubs out of there sight" croy said.

"Is it safe to keep them?" I asked.

"I know what you're thinking Megan, it's a wild animal" croy said.

"Yes but it's a baby, and we intend on staying in the wild for some time, it can leave me when it wants" I said.

"No Megan" croy said.

"If the mom doesn't show up by the time we leave I'm bringing it with us" I said.

"No" croy said.

"If you go and hide it I'm not leaving until you bring it back" I added.

Then I walked away and went off to clean myself up.

An hour before we left I tossed some dehydrated food at it.

The cub sniffed it then meowed loudly.

"Try this" croy said handing me something slimy

. "EW is that a real fish?" I asked.

"Yes, chop it up and give it to the cub" croy said.

"EW" I said.

Croy showed me how to make it into a mush then I tried it.

The cub eagerly ate.

I fed it one more mashed fish then washed my hands.

The cub fell asleep in the bushes.

When it was time to leave I sighed and picked the cub up.

At first it tried to get away but then it calmed down once it got a good whiff of my hands.

They still smelled like fish.

The cub allowed me to put it in my knapsack where it cuddled up.

I put the knapsack on my chest instead of my back.

I held the bag to my chest.

"Are you sure you want to take it?" Zane asked.

"Yes" I replied.

"Okay but if it slows us down we leave it" Zane replied.

The other pretties in our group gave me odd looks as I boarded my hover board.

We zoomed off to the towers.

"She did not show up, nor did peris" David said.

"Well what we do?" croy asked.

"I suggest you take them and I wait here" David said.

"I will wait to" Zane said.

"No, you need to go get cured of the lesions" David said.

"I already am" Zane said. "How?" David asked.

"I split the cure with tally." Zane said.

"That is not good, go with them my mom will explain" David said his face growing with fear.

"But I want to wait for tally" Zane said.

"When she comes I will bring her now go!" David shouted.

Zane looked at David terrified.

He nodded finally and we left.

We traveled for hours and we soon got to an observatory.

The cub was fighting to get out of my knapsack.

I grabbed out and right as I did Zane collapsed.

I turned as he fell onto me.

"Zane?" I asked.

"Zane?" I asked again.

"ZANE!" I screamed shaking him.

People ran to help and a woman came.

This is when I first met maddie.


	5. spying

The new woman ran up and knelt down next to Zane.

"What happened?" she asked looking at me.

"He fell on me, he won't wake up" I said.

I watched as the lady calmly lifted Zane's chin up and felt his neck.

"There is a pulse, a weak one" she said.

"Is he okay?" I asked franticly.

By now the other pretties and a few unfamiliar uglies had run up.

Suddenly Zane started shaking violently.

"He is having a seizure" someone yelled.

The woman got up and moved back.

"Everyone move back and give him some space" she commanded.

Zane was still laying across my legs.

I was trying to pull out from under him when he started shaking.

"ZANE!" I screamed.

He shook violently on my legs.

I ignored the pain shooting up my legs.

Finally he stopped.

The woman was next to us within seconds.

"Okay come on, croy, David get him up" the woman said.

"David is not here" croy said.

"Okay then! Dex help me get him up" the woman commanded.

Croy and another ugly ran forward to help lift Zane up.

Fausto and a few other boys from our group shot forward to help lift him.

"Bring him to the observatory" the woman commanded.

I walked with him.

"You, pretty what happened?" the woman shot at me.

I looked at her wide eyed.

"He got off his board and I was trying to stop my cat from leaping out of my bag and Zane just fell on me" I said.

"Did he take anything while in the city?" the woman asked.

"Maddie" croy said.

"What?" the woman asked.

"He split the cure with tally" croy said gravely.

"Oh no" the woman said.

"Okay everyone put him down here and get out, Dex, croy stay" maddie said.

Fausto nodded and he pulled me out of the observatory.

"What was that place?" I asked fausto.

"I don't know" fausto said.

"It's an observatory, rusty scientist used them to look at the stars before the air got to dirty to see" an ugly girl said.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Anne, that's my best friend Dex in there" she said.

Another girl walked up and smiled

"so I guess Dex is in there with croy and maddie?" she asked.

"Yup, these are the new pretties who escaped the city" Anne said pointing to our group.

"Ah, I think your bob cat is terrorizing the rabbits we caught." The girl said.

"That would be my bob cat" I said.

"Ah well the rabbit pen is over there" the girl said pointing.

"Thank you!" I said.

"Oh and my name is sussy by the way" she yelled as I ran to the direction I was pointed in.

I ran up to a pen.

A group of smokies had the cub corned.

One of them held an axe up.

"NO!" I shouted running forward.

I pushed a smokie out of the way and grabbed the cub.

"What the?" the ugly with the axe asked.

"What the heck! Why where you trying to kill it?" I asked.

"It was attacking our rabbit, that's our food" the ugly boy said.

"Yes but this cub is a living creature and it doesn't know better" I said.

I got up and walked out of the pen clutching the now purring cub to my chest.

Sussy and Anne directed us to small room in the observatory that maddie wanted us to wait in.

I found out the bob cat was a girl.

Anne pointed it out.

"Ya it's a girl might want to name it. Since it's so young it could learn the name and everything" she said smiling.

"I don't know I'm kind of nervous about naming it" I said.

"Why Megan? Everything needs a name, can't go on calling the baby it" sussy said.

"Well, I was hoping I could release it into the true wild one day" I said.

"No can do Megan, once a wild animal has imprinted on a human there is no loosing it" Anne said. "Imprinted?" I asked.

"That's how baby animals recognize their mothers, and it looks like she has imprinted on you" Anne said.

"No!" I said.

"Watch" sussy said.

She took the cub out of my lap and put it on the floor on the other side of the room.

The cub meowed loudly and looked around confused.

She sniffed then turned and walked right to me.

She feebly tried to leap into my lap but only made it half way.

I picked her up and put her in my lap.

"Told you" Anne said.

"Shilo" I said suddenly.

"What?" fausto asked.

"Her name is shilo" I said shrugging.

"Okay?" fausto said.

We waited an hour before finally maddie came out to where we were.

"Hello, I don't think I had a chance to properly introduce myself. My name is maddie" she said weakly smiling.

"My name is fausto, how is Zane?" fausto asked.

"He is awake for the moment. He wants to know if someone named Megan is okay" maddie said.

"Me?" I asked.

"Yes you" maddie said.

"He wants to see Megan, just Megan" maddie said.

I nodded and got up and followed maddie leaving a confused fausto.

Zane was lying in a pile of furs next to a fire. I knelt down next to him.

"Zane-la?" I whispered.

"Megan" Zane croaked.

"What?" I asked shaking.

"When tally comes, warn me" he said.

I nodded.

"are you okay? I think I might have landed on you" he said.

"I'm okay Zane-la just don't go scaring us like that again" I said.

"I won't, just remember when tally shows up run to me, warn me she is here" he croaked.

Then he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

"What the hell happened to him?" I asked maddie fiercely.

"Tally Youngblood was given a cure by a smokie names croy. It consisted of two pills containing nanos. One of them where nanos and the other where anti-nanos." Maddie said.

Nanos they ate everything in their path.

Only anti nanos could destroy nanos.

"Tally was afraid to take the cure herself so she split it with Zane. The pills where meant to release nanos into tally's brain and eat the lesions. Then the time activated anti-nanos came in and destroyed the nanos and themselves" maddie said.

"Wait, so tally just took the anti nanos and Zane took the nanos?" I asked.

"You're smart Megan" maddie said.

"Thank you" I replied uneasily.

"Yes, Zane's nanos kept eating and eating his brain. And tally was just imitating Zane so I don't think she even jumped out of the balloon, she must have chickened out. That other boy peris must have stayed with her" maddie said.

"But tally was the bubbliest person of us all! She helped Zane with the ice breakthrough. And they climbed Valentino tower together on a whim with nothing to stop there fall" I said.

"It was all Zane though who came up with it. Tally probably fell for his pretty face and ended up just going along with his ideas" maddie said.

"Don't you dare insult tally like that again. Nor Zane! Zane would never allow tally to simply follow him like a puppy. And tally would never sink that low" I said getting up.

"I know this seems hard for you Megan, but I know that wasn't the real tally, it was the lesions." Maddie said.

"I have lesions, and I jumped out of the hot air balloon" I said.

"I actually doubt you have lesions" maddie said.

"What?" I asked.

"You knew what nanos where right away. You also went along with this whole thing, my understanding from Zane Is that you only knew the crims for a week" maddie said.

"I don't like the city" I said simply.

"You seemed happy enough, a fashion clique with two best friends?" maddie said.

"How do you know this?" I asked.

She held up a document.

"Recently I was in the headquarters of special circumstances. I managed to escape with a tablet from the creator of special circumstances. There was a whole file on you" maddie said.

I blinked a few times and walked forward and took the fat stack of papers from maddie.

They where hand written.

"Careful I copied all of those by hand" she said.

I snorted and sat down and started reading.

A picture of my ugly self was on the first page.

My name was there and so was my date of birth.

It had something written about me.

"Creative ideas, she wastes her skills on simple clothing design but has come up with some good inventions." I read out loud.

"Flip the page" maddie suggested.

I flipped the page and there were three photos.

One was of black spool of string.

"Hey I use to tie myself to trees with this stuff" I said.

"Read the passage" maddie said.

"Invisible string, an old rusty invention for fishing. The target used her dorm chemistry lab to make a new safer tougher version. Is currently used in the making of a new invisible rope" I read.

I looked down and saw a picture of a hover board I built from scratch.

It was the one with lifting fans.

"Long range hover board with lifting fans. Based off of a rusty invention called the helicopter. Currently being redesigned so specials can become more capable of keeping up with smokies." I read.

"Smart invention by the way" maddie said.

The third one was the most dangerous thing I had come up with.

It was sling shot.

During prank week I had invented it so our team could chuck things at the other team.

It had too much power to it, and it hurt to get hit.

I deiced to keep it to myself and never show my team the idea.

I had thrown it under a ground car in the rusty ruins.

"Has the power to shoot up to fifty pounds. Range of fire is any direction and length of shot ranges from a hundred yards to 75 yards." I read.

"See, they have been studying you since you where an ugly" maddie said.

"So, the specials are using my ideas to build things for themselves?" I asked.

"Oh yes read the last two pages" she said.

I turned the page and there was my pretty self.

"Non-bubble head. In hopes of new inventions to benefit the special circumstances cause. Also given more beauty then others to add separation" I read.

"Separation?" I asked.

"People get jealous easily, they hoped that if it was obvious that you where different than them in another way they would act rudely to you" maddie said.

"Angie" I whispered.

The twins where my only friends in that clique.

Angie made sure the rest of the clique thought I was an amateur who barely made it in.

they treated me like a little kid who their parents made them hang around.

I turned to the last page.

It was pictures of the twins and of croy.

"Ashley and bree Wallace. Identical twins. Close with the target. There open minds are of interest to the special circumstances cause. They accepted the targets diffence without hesitation." I read.

"If they dare bring Ashley and bree into this, I will make the specials pay" I growled.

"I wouldn't count on them leaving them alone. You disappeared, you where a constant target of theirs." Maddie said.

I read the caption by croy's picture.

"Close with the target since littlies. Went missing before his pretty operation. Also friends with subjects Zane and fausto" I read.

"Oh god they have fausto as a target?" I asked.

"Anyone who is in constant contact of a real target they call a subject. They are not first on the list but if they are ever noticed they will become targets." Maddie said.

"When did I become a subject?" I asked.

"I don't know, but obviously sometime during your ugly years. The file was started a year ago, so you must have been a subject for just a short time" maddie said.

"So I don't have the lesions?" I asked.

"Nope, and I expect that if you had stayed the specials would have come for you eventually." Maddie said.

I shook my head.

"I have to go" I said.

"Think about what they said about your inventing skills Megan, try making something to help us" maddie said.

I left maddie and the sleeping form of Zane.

Right before I left the room I dropped the file on the dirty ground.

Fausto was waiting and he followed me out.

He was holding shilo tightly.

"What happened?" he asked.

"The specials have been spying on me and you to" I said.

"What?" he asked.

"They have been spying on both of us since we where uglies" I replied.

"No way" he said.

"Yes" I replied.

I walked to the center of the camp.

A girl was sitting down on a blanket made of animal skin.

She had a mess of things.

"What is this?" I asked.

"This is our trading post; we haven't had a chance to settle down permantly. So this is all we have for now" she said.

I looked at the stuff.

"What's that?" I asked pointing to a smaller pile of broken looking objects.

"Oh that's stuff that is to broken to save, so maybe someone can make something out of it" she said. "How much for the whole pile?" I asked.

"Oh um ten self heating meals why?" she asked.

I dug into my bag and pulled out ten self heating meals.

I handed them to the shocked girl and I took the pile of stuff and walked off to the woods.

Fausto froze and shilo got free and followed me into the bushes.

I sat down then let the gears in my head turn.


	6. the runaways

**Sorry for not making another chapter sooner. I was having brain block with expensive beauty.**

**If you check my other stories you will see I was busy with repo! Strikes again. For some reason I could only think repo the last few days! So this should make up for it. **

The silence of the forest was enchanting.

Shilo lay sleeping by my feet.

I was sewing pouches of rabbit skins together.

I had an invention in mind and I had been working on prototypes all day.

"Hey any luck?" fausto asked sitting down next to me.

"I think I finally have it, instead of just one line of stitching with thread I'm using yarn and I'm doubling the stitching. That way the rocks won't fly out" I said making another neat stitch.

"Well that's good" fausto said.

He reached out and put his hands over mine.

"What?" I asked.

"Take a break and eat something" fausto whispered.

"I'm good fausto calm down" I said smiling.

"You have been here since this morning, eat lunch" fausto said.

"I need to finish this invention" I said.

"Come on Megan! Why are you pushing yourself?" he asked.

"Because I have a gift that the specials want. If the specials want me for it then it's worth something. I need to help smoke" I said making two more stitches.

"Your helping smoke a lot right now by being here" fausto said.

"How? So what if I don't have lesions! That means I should help even more!" I said.

"Okay at least take a break to play with shilo, she has been sleeping all morning. She must have pent up energy." Fausto said.

I put the sewing down and then took a long piece of grass and used it to tickle shilo's face.

She woke up and looked at it before turning over and falling back asleep.

"There done" I said.

I took the stitching up again.

"Funny Megan, seriously come on" fausto said.

"I'm not hungry fausto" I said grinning.

I tied the stitching and started filling the sack with rocks.

I tested the weight before rethreading the needle I was using.

It took me a few tries to learn how to thread a needle.

Croy helped me a lot with the first few tries.

If you're careful thread and even cloth and be reused.

Fausto finally got up.

"I have to go" he said.

"Work?" I asked.

"Yea they have me on design" fausto said.

Since getting to smoke we all were given jobs.

Fausto had been given the job of calculating things.

He was very good with physics and anything science.

We worked together a lot.

A few people where put on smaller jobs like taking care of rabbits and watching the camp during the night.

The camp was always guarded.

I sometimes took a guard shift while working on an invention.

Fausto would come and suggest ways to make an invention more useful or make it actually work.

We had made three sucessesful prototypes of what I was working on now.

But it was accurate with aim yet.

The afternoon wore on and I finally was done.

I tested all of the stitches and saw they held very tightly.

I smiled and bought the crude device to fausto.

"It's done, ready to go test?" I asked.

"Sure" fausto said grinning.

We went to a clearing we used for testing things.

I unraveled the invention.

It had a thick cord and sacks of rocks tied securely in many places along the rope.

"Okay ready?" I asked.

"Yes" he said nodding.

I swung the cord around my head.

I watched as I swung it faster and faster.

Finally I got it to the proper speed.

"Okay, its holding" I yelled.

"Good now throw" fausto said.

The edge of the cord spun behind my head and I let it go.

The cord ran through the air and hit fausto straight on in the legs.

The cord tangled itself around his legs.

"YES IT WORKED!" fausto yelled.

"HOW DOSE IT FEEL?" I yelled running to him.

"It stung like hell and I'm going to have rope burn. We got it!" fausto said as I got to him.

"Try to move" I said.

Fausto tried to walk but ended up falling flat on his face.

"Perfect, let's untangle it and try some real shooting" I said grinning.

Soon I was standing on one end of the field.

Fausto started running across the field.

I spun the cord around and then released it and it flew and hit fausto.

He fell to the ground with a huge groan.

I ran to him and he was sitting there already untangling it.

It took us a few moments to untangle it but it did come undone.

I helped fausto up and we went back to camp.

"Maddie" I called walking into the observatory.

Shilo was following me through the door.

"She is in her work space" Zane moaned from his pile of blanket.

"What's up with you?" I asked.

"I'm still having headaches, maddie said they should have gone away by now" Zane said.

"Maybe that's just your brain being pissed at you" I said shrugging.

"Maybe" Zane said burying his head into the skins.

I walked passed him and found maddie bending over a work screen.

"I made something" I said.

Maddie looked up "really? Let's see" she said smiling.

I smiled "come with me" I replied.

I led her outside into camp.

"Okay see croy right there trying to catch that escaped rabbit?" I asked.

Maddie nodded and I took the device and unraveled it.

I swung it around and right on the correct point I released it.

The device flew and hit croy and he fell over in a confused pile.

"What then?" he said sitting up.

Maddie laughed "brilliant! Perfect for stopping attackers! Where did you get this idea?" maddie asked. "I use to watch bunch of old rusty documentaries. The native Americans use to use them in raid parties" I said.

"Megan! What was that thing?" croy yelled from where he fell.

"Oh, sorry croy I was testing something! Wait there don't break it" I called running over.

I bought the device to maddie.

"What are you calling it?" she asked.

"Runaways, it stops your from running away" I said grinning devilishly.

"Okay, well I'm going to get a team of smokies together to make some more" she said.

"Okay I will have fausto show them how to make it" I said nodding.

Over the next two days people where using the runaways.

I watched people use them on chickens and rabbits or on each other.

I volunteered to go scouting back at my old city.

"Here is a hack card, steal as much as you can" maddie said.

She gave me a list of things she needed.

Fausto, croy, and I headed out.

Shilo was bigger now.

Every time I left without her she would cause hell at camp so I bought her with me.

We got there at sundown a day later.

"Okay I think we are good" I said landing my hover board.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" croy asked lowering himself off his board

. "Well we wait for the dead of the night and go into the city and get things we need" I said shrugging. "How?" fausto asked.

I thought for a moment "the twins" I said smiling widely.

"Bree and Ashley?" fausto asked.

"Who?" croy asked.

"Before I left I made some friends, Ashley and bree they are identical twins" I said to croy.

"Okay when we should go?" croy asked.

"They leave early in the night so we should go now" I said.

"Let's go then" fausto said snapping his fingers.

We flew over to the city and landed.

"Keep an eye out for peris or tally" I added as we flew over the city.

"Wont people notice something different about us?" fausto whispered as we inched closer to the city. "Not if we fly really fast" I said pushing my board faster.

We got to the twins dorm.

I ran up to the elevator.

"Danm no rings, can't use it" I said growling.

Why did I not realize that earlier?

I was such a fucking bubble head!

"Don't they have window dorms?" fausto said.

I smiled "your brilliant baby" I said.

This new bubbly idea was going to make up for my bogus bubblehead behavior from before.

We got back on our hover boards and I bought them to the roof of the mansion.

Thanks to fausto's mods they went that high.

"Okay they are four stories down" I said.

"Wait, your climbing down the side of the building?" croy asked.

"Duh, come on bubble head" I said.

"What if shilo freaks?" croy asked.

"She is use to heights" I replied.

I was already lowering myself over the edge.

"Megan! You're crazy" croy said running to the edge of the building.

"Listen man, once she makes up her mind, it's going to happen" fausto said.

"Dude, it's your girlfriend stop her!" croy said franticly.

"Okay, fine" fausto said.

Fausto walked to the edge of the roof.

I was clinging onto a windowsill and was lowering myself down another floor.

"Megan-la!" fausto called.

"Yes?" I called back looking up.

"Croy thinks this is a bad idea, maybe you should come back up" fausto called.

"I'm already almost there" I yelled.

I was two floors away.

"I'm going to come down there and get you with the board Megan" croy yelled peering over the edge of the mansion.

"Nope" I yelled.

Then I let go.

The moment I let go I threw my arms back out and caught the ledge.

I heard a yell and looked up.

Totally bubbly I think croy forgot sometimes that I wasn't a stupid bubble head.

I knew what I was doing.

"That made it faster" I said laughing.

"NOT FUNNY MEGAN" fausto yelled.

"I'm going to move two windows to the left" I yelled up.

As I inched along the windowsills I felt shilo move around in my knapsack.

Her face was soon next to mine.

She clung onto my shoulder with her claws.

I ignored the sharp pain as I slid into Ashley's window.

I looked inside and saw Ashley was brushing her hair and bree was waist deep in clothing.

I knocked on the window and then quickly moved up one window.

The window opened and Ashley stuck her head out and looked around with a confused look.

She shrugged and then put her head back in.

she left the window open.

I grinned and slipped in.

I stood there and waited.

**For the thrill of suspense I'm going to stop things right here! If you want the rest you must review me! I'm not continuing until I get at least three!**

**Oh and apparently someone has a story identical down to the last word. I don't know much but I just know that if you guys see another story oddly familiar to this one except a different character name let me know. I'm curious to see if this is a copy and paste story of if this is someone genuinely having an idea similar to mine! I swear to the all mighty that I did not steal this story from anyone! **


	7. three counts of conpiricy

**Here ya go all you impatient people XD ideas for my next chapters would make the writing process go by so much faster. I LOVE U ALL. If I get 500 readers by the way I will be able to go on a small mini tour to talk about this book and might even be able to meet Scott westerfeild so please spread the word and get me those readers! **

The girls were silent as they went about their own business.

"I missed you guys" I said.

The twins turned around in shock.

"Megan" they both said in utter shock.

I smiled.

"MEGAN!" they shouted running up to me.

They both hugged me tightly.

"You have to get out of here" Ashley said suddenly.

"Now" bree hissed.

"What?" I asked.

"We know where you have been Megan" bree said.

"How?" I asked.  
"Because we where once there" Ashley said looking down.

"What? How did you end up back?" I asked wild-eyed.

"The specials came, and took us back after the downfall of smoke" bree said.

"New smoke, they have the new smoke now! Grab some stuff you can come back with me" I said grabbing their wrists.

"We can't" Ashley whispered.

"Why?" I asked feeling my eyes water a little.

I wanted them back, I missed them.

"We lied to you, we are lies" bree said.

"What?" I asked.

"We are not pretties" Ashley whispered sadly.

"Yes you are" I said wide eyed.

"No we are wolves in sheep's skin, we are specials, internally" bree said.

I let their hands go and stepped back in shock.

I felt tears start to run down my face.

"You're lying" I hissed.

"No, cable the leader created us so we looked like pretties to spy on you" they both said.

"No" I said in denial.

"She has our sister calie" bree said miserably.

I could see the deep hurt in their eyes.

"She said if we don't corporate calie would never see the day of light again" they both whispered.

It looked like the wanted to both cry, but couldn't.

"I did not know you guys even had a sister" I said trying to swallow the lump in my throat.

"We are not twins we are triplets" bree said.

"Calie was the youngest, we all ran away to smoke together, then they came and got us two, but calie got away, but they caught up with her. They said they had her and we had to participate go alone with it if we wanted her back, they said after we served their cause we would be turned back to normal pretties and calie would come back." Ashley said.

"They were lying, you're never going to get out, and I bet you anything calie is still in smoke" I said.

Both of them looked at me in shock.

"How do you know?" bree asked clutching Ashley's hand.

"Because tally Youngblood broke into special circumstances earlier this year and broke all the captives out." I replied surly.

"cable is on her way I bet you, these walls record everything" Ashley whispered so softly I barley heard. "Ok then, tackle me" I whispered.

"What?" Ashley asked in shock.

"You heard me, if you don't try and capture me then you will lose your credibility as specials, attack me" I said.

"Just be careful, my cat Shiloh is in my bag" I added.

Bree and Ashley looked at me and then nodded grimly.

"You are under arrest Megan freeman, for conspiracy against the government" Ashley said.

"You know, I thought I would never get arrested let alone for conspiracy, sounds cool" I said grinning.

I then winked and backed up to the window.

Ashley shot forward and barley missed my leg as I leapt up.

The twin's door blasted open and people flooded in.

They had grey silk robes on, they where the most beautiful, and the scariest things I had ever seen.

One woman stepped forward.

"Megan, we do not want to hurt you, but we will if we have to" she said.

"I don't want to hurt you guys either, but I may just change my mind, this is so no bubbly" I said edging to the very edge of the window.

"Megan, don't you know what you are? Don't you know how special you are?" she said.

I looked into her wolf like eyes.

She had a powerful glint in her eyes, the only one you have when you are very powerful.

My teachers as uglies use to have a very slight glint in their eyes like this.

The wardens had a brighter glint.

All middle pretties had a soft hint of it.

But she must be doctor cable.

"Doctor Cable, I have been wondering when I would meet you" I said sitting down on the window sill. Shiloh leapt out of my bag and on my shoulders and down to my lap.

I crossed my legs and ran my hands through Shiloh's fur.

Cable fell for it.

When she saw how I sat down so with ease she felt like I wasn't a threat.

I remember maddie explaining the special operation to me.

The specials could smell fear and unease.

Adrenaline.

I calmed myself the best I could.

After I felt emotionless I smiled.

"You have been watching me" I said.

"How did you know?" she asked.

"I didn't, you just answered my question, and I had a hunch though" I said caressing Shiloh.

I had known already but this made me look like a smarter opponent.

"How did you know who I was?" cable asked.

"You are the leader type. Only someone with that type of composer could be a leader, I want to talk to you cable" I said calmly.

"About what?" she asked.

"about why you singled me out of all the smokies to watch the closest, I bet you don't even watch tally Youngblood as much as me" I said.

"Tally we watch because of just being a runaway, you we watch because you are brilliant, you could do much for us" cable said.

"That's too bad then" I said.

"What?" cable asked.

I held Shiloh to my chest.

"Well you won't be able to watch me where am going" I said with a smile.

Then I pushed myself out of the window.

I flew out of the window backwards.

Shiloh dug her claws into my chest.

This was going to hurt.

My crash bracelets caught me and I felt Shiloh's claws dig very deep into my chest.

The sting of the claws and burn in my arms and wrists made my eyes water.

"You're like us Megan! Don't you realize it you're a special without the cruel looks, your one of us on the outside, let us make you one of us on the inside" cable yelled from the window.

"Sorry cable I have a hover board to catch" I yelled.

Fausto and croy flew off the roof with my board following.

I leapt up and grabbed my board with my fingers and swung myself on the board.

As we flew away I detached Shiloh from my chest.

"The twins" Fausto shouted.

"They will be ok, they are just bubbleheads, and cable heard me through the walls" I shouted back. "Lets get out of here" croy shouted.

We shot of towards the river.

We landed in the ruins on the ground and hid in the bottom floor of a ruin.

I took my bracelets off and saw bruises on my wrists.

I lifted my shirt and blood was running down my stomach.

"Are you ok?" Fausto asked.

I nodded and hugged him and then croy.

"We need to get back to smoke" I said.

"Ok let's go" Fausto said.

Then we flew off towards smoke.


	8. as far as the mission takes it

**Sorry I have not been writing in a while guys, my dumb dumb roommate has been keeping me very busy. But since I have not been writing I'm going to attempt to put this chapter and another up. So that's two new chapters **

I watched maddie pace around the makeshift lab.

"Are you sure that is what cable told you? You're a special on the outside?" she asked.

"I'm pretty sure that's what she said" I assured maddie.

Maddie was so busy thinking to herself that she paced right into a table.

I raised my eyebrow at her and she grabbed a bunch of things in frustration.

"Stay still" she instructed.

She grabbed my chin and made me look up.

"Uh maddie please be careful and don't poke her eye out" Fausto said from the chair he was sitting in by the door.

Maddie ignored him and a light shined in my eye and a scanner buzzed to life.

She checked me over multiple times before finally coming to a verdict.

"There are similarities in your appearance to the specials. They did base your features off of the specials, your what a special would look like without the harsh features added" she said writing a few things down.

"So pretty it's a shame they can't make all pretties like that" Fausto said.

"Well they would be pushing it, Megan's appearances where obviously pushed a little beyond the limit but as we found out already it was to separate her from the others, she was already mentally separated the moment they decided not to add lesions" maddie said looking over her shoulder.

"So they want Megan badly then?" Fausto asked.

"Seems like they want her very badly, we cannot allow her to go on any more missions within the city, it is too dangerous we have something they want" maddie replied.

"Hm, never knew I was so badly wanted" I said waggling my eyebrows.

"Stop joking around Megan, this is serious! They would do anything to have you it seems, it could end up fatal for someone close to you" maddie said eyeing Fausto.

My expression changed and I looked at Fausto with fear.

"They wouldn't" I whispered.

"They have killed before and I doubt they won't try it again, watch out both of you" maddie said.

"Ok what about calie though? She is here in smoke, that's not fair to bree and Ashley! They are using innocent people and lying!" I said standing up.

"We cannot do much for bree and Ashley without some type of cure, and for a cure we someone to give informed consent to try it" maddie said.

Silence.

"If I get caught I will give you informed consent, you know for a fact they would change me" I said. Maddie nodded.

"Whoa wait! I know if I get caught they will take me to, I give informed consent to" Fausto said standing up.

Shilo jumped up onto maddie's work desk and I laughed.

"Shilo gives informed consent as well" I said trying to lighten the mood.

Maddie rolled her eyes and just turned and shooed us out.

We walked through the camp looking for croy.

I heard swearing and turned to see dex standing over a bucket tugging at a spoon.

"What's wrong buddy?" I asked pausing.

"I forgot I had a bucket of sap ready to go over the fire to make syrup and it kind of hardened a little on me and I can't put it over the fire without destroying the spoon" he said tugging.

I watched carefully as he tugged.

The sap was solid, rock hard.

I bent over and took a pocket knife out and cut away a little at the surface.

I kept digging and my knife came back up with wet sap.

"Give yea two meals for the bucket and spoon" I said instantly.

Dex raised his eyebrow.

"it won't do anything useful, just take it" dex said pushing it to me.

I nodded and took the bucket and went right to my meadow.

"Um Megan what are you thinking of doing?" Fausto asked.

I walked around grabbing sticks and branches.

I lit a fire and started putting the bucket over it.

"Just watch" I replied.

We waited for a good two hours before it had melted.

The spoon was ruined as dex had said it would be.

I allowed the sap to cool and it was sticky enough for me to use.

I took a big clump of it and rolled it into a ball.

I then carefully used two sticks to hold the ball.

I let it go over the fire.

When the outside of the ball was hard I squeezed it.

It broke open and sticky sap came out.

I had a hard time pulling my fingers apart.

"Perfect" I said grinning.

I left Fausto blinking as I melted the sap again.

I disappeared back to camp and came bag with a big sheet of wood I had convinced croy to let me borrow.

I made more of the balls and did the same thing.

I made four and took a slingshot I had made.

I aimed it for Fausto.

"This might sting a little" I said before releasing it.

The ball hit him in the face and he fell back.

He clamped his cheek with his hand and then swore.

"I can't take my hand away from my cheek!" he said squirming.

"Perfect!" I said laughing.

"When ever someone feels pain they tend to hold the location of pain and in this case when they automatically do that their hands get stuck on where ever it was they were shot" I explained as Fausto growled and groaned.

"Wonderful, no more testing out the risky shit on me" Fausto said as he finally pealed his hands away from his face.

We sat for the rest of the day making the balls out of the sap.

I walked back to camp and maddie applauded me.

She made orders for everyone to start collecting sap to make as many of the balls as possible.

"Sting glue balls" I said when she asked me the name of them.

"They sting, and they glue your hands to your body" I said grinning.

"Good name Megan, keep thinking of inventions for us, we have to be prepared for anything" maddie said.

"I just wish I had more than raw material to work with" I said sighing.

"Well not for long, I haven't told anyone yet but soon we may have a city join us" maddie said.

I gasped.

"a city?" I asked.

"Yes the city of Diego. They have always been free minded, if we can get the pills past there city limits then we can easily make an alliance" she explained.

"And if we make an alliance then we could get access to real labs, mass production of the cure, everything" I said my eyes shining brightly now.

"Yes Megan and I have a special job for you, your inventions are offensive and defensive, I want you to be in charge of all of our weaponry and defense" maddie said giving me a serious look.

My face fell.

"awfully rusty of you to say that, weaponry and defense, like I'm a general for a rusty army" I said biting my finger nail.

"No Megan we are not rusty for that, we are not picking the fight, its protection, to make sure our mission is safe" maddie assured me.

"Ok I will accept, but only if we don't go overboard, only what we must do to protect our mission" I said nodding.

Maddie nodded back at me and we both silently watched through the open door to the observatory as smokies walked around.

I found myself smiling as dex struggle with Anne to drag a stack of wood across the camp.

Dex, sussy, and Anne had instantly been friendly.

"I love them so much" I said crossing my arms.

"I do to, they are all my children in a way" maddie replied.

"They are my brothers and sisters in a way as well, croy especially" I said leaning against the door frame. A girl came up to the door and looked around nervously.

"Someone said you wanted to see me maddie?" she asked.

She had dull blue eyes and deep red hair, freckles splayed across her face and she had a serious tan line. She looked like one of those gingers from the rusty days, everyone had always shunned them thinking they where ugly, when in all honesty they were really pretty, expect the freckles, but they always had nice skin and hair besides that.

"Yes calie come in" maddie said.

"Calie? Your calie?" I said my eyes widening.

She nodded even more so nervous now.

"Oh, my name is Megan freeman, I'm very good friends with your sisters, bree and Ashley" I said offering my hand.

She paused and tears ran down her face.

"How are they? Are they happy and safe?" she asked.

"Yes they are, we seem to have a problem though" I said softly.

After we explained everything calie had to sit down.

"You know we never split up before, we were all side by side all the time. Never did we split" calie said dabbing her eyes.

"yea bree and Ashley use to disappear to go do their own thing all the time, if you invited one, the other came, always in creepy usion to" I replied.

She smiled "it gets creepier when I'm around" she said pulling her hair back.

"Where you all identical?" I asked curiously.

"Yes we where" calie replied.

"Cant believe I'm seeing the ugly version of bree and Ashley, I never thought they were the ones who came out the operation uglier." I said.

"Uglier?" calie asked.

"Your beautiful calie, I never have thought anyone ugly, the operation just turns everyone average." I replied.

Calie sighed.

"You really are a true smokie Megan, don't forget that" maddie said smiling at me.

"I won't" I replied.


	9. freeman unit and the return of tally

The past few weeks had been very complex.

Now that I was in the loop with maddie I was busy.

She had trusted me enough to the point where I had free reign over her tiny lab.

I did not really use it much but I helped her organize missions to different cities and I trained teams of smokies how to get in and out of cities and what to take out of ugly school labs that we could find useful.

It was decided that since Diego was the closest city that was the most free minded we would get the pills to them first.

We would get into the city and of course with all the prettiest turned ugly there system would fall.

Then we would step in and help rebuild it.

If we had a city we could have the best labs, we could get our hands on mass production of pills.

We could really expand our mission.

We were already producing the pills and my inventions at amazing rates.

I brought groups of uglies on missions, everyone was working hard.

I had my own special group of smokies I kept prepared one day in case of another special invasion.

The group consisted of croy, dex, Anne, sussy, calie, Fausto, and a few others.

With the help of a team of smokies we had managed to steal hand held radios from a few nearby cities. My group always had one on them.

Maddie had one and so did I.

We had a few new run always come in while we were at the observatory.

"And this would be the freeman clique" jenny said as she brought one boy around.

"Clique? They have cliques?" he asked his eyes widening.

"Jenny is just messing with you, we are more of a unit not a clique, and it's not the freeman unit either" I said narrowing my eyes at jen.

She giggled.

"They are pretty much the camp protectors, the muscle of our little rebellion" jen said smiling.

The boy went wide eyed again.

"So you guys are pretty serious then?" he asked.

"You could say that, just ready for anything" I said shrugging.

"So like what do I have to do join the freeman unit?" the boy asked.

"You have to show mental and physical strength" I replied.

"I'm pretty strong, and I guess I'm smart" he replied.

"Well we are training in about ten minutes, think you want to come?" I asked.

"Of course" he said smiling.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Ian" he said offering his hand out.

"Megan" I replied taking his hand.

I went to my meadow where I trained everyone and found everyone waiting and already goofing off. Dex and Anne where experimenting with a newer product I had come to find.

It was an idea based off of something someone else did.

Hot peppers dried out and ground into a fine powder and then mixed with water.

You could throw the water at an attacker and they would be blinded instantly.

"Hey be careful with that, it's been tested once and that's enough" I warned them.

They laughed and then put the containers down.

Ian showed up watching everything with anticipation.

"Ok everyone line up!" I shouted.

Everyone snapped into line grinning and giggling.

"ok I know everyone is hyped up today because it was boring and all but it's going to get interesting I promise, we have a guest with us today, Ian our newest run away is interested in joining our ranks" I said pacing in front of everyone.

Ian shyly put his hand up and kind of waved.

"Should we show him what it takes to be in our unit?" I asked.

"Yes!" everyone cheered.

"Ok!" I said smiling.

"Hey wait Megan!" croy called.

I paused and turned around.

"Hm?" I asked.

"I kind of like the idea of calling us the freeman unit?" croy asked.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"I don't want this unit named after me" I snapped.

"It aint going to be called that just because it's your last name, it's going to be called that because we are men, and woman fighting to stay free" croy said.

I paused at the irony of it and smirked.

"Ok fine all in favor?" I asked.

Everyone laughed and raised their hands.

"Ok let's get serious now! I know we have the pepper spray now but I don't want anyone using it! And I mean it! that shit is a pain in the ass to rinse out your eyes" I said.

Everyone doubled up.

"Ok guys warm ups, I want those trees climbed and the flags from the top brought down, if you fall then that's your fault" I called.

Everyone went to a tree and I watched Ian nervously approach a tree.

When I yelled for everyone to start he flew up it.

I watched amazed as he passed almost everyone up in the first few seconds.

Then I realized he was putting it all in one place.

"IAN SLOW DOWN, IF YOU PUT ALL YOUR ENERGY INTO THE FIRST PART YOUR GOING TO CRASH FASTER" I called.

Ian nodded and slowed down.

Fausto was the first one who got his flag but croy was the first one down.

Fausto complained but I broke it up.

Next we started jogging around the meadow.

Ian got the shock of his life when Shilo came bounding into the meadow and pounced me.

She had gotten about the size of a small dog in the past few weeks and she was getting heavy.

"Ow!" I cried when I fell over.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Ian shouted.

I laughed as Shilo ran her sand paper tongue down my face.

"Don't worry Ian, it's just Shilo" I said sitting up.

"That thing, it's a wild cat!" he said stepping back fearfully.

"A wild cat? More like a spoiled brat with claws" croy said laughing.

"Is she safe?" Ian asked.

"Kind of" I replied picking Shilo up.

Shilo bent her head backwards to look at Ian and she squirmed trying to get out from my grip.

"Ok guys enough play time we need to get back to work" I said giggling.

I released Shilo and she followed behind me as I continued with the lesson.

As we went on we practiced with runaways and sting glue balls.

By now everyone was accurate enough with them where they would be useful in a fight.

We got to hand on hand combat and I was busy trying to detangle croy and Fausto when I noticed something on the ground.

A shadow was hovering over the meadow.

The right size and shape for a hover board.

I looked up and saw a hover board flying over.

Two riders on it.

I recognized David and a girl on it.

She looked dirty and her clothing where torn.

I barley recognized her as tally Youngblood.

"Oh my god, everyone back to camp! Tally made it!" I said.

I rushed to camp flying past everyone to get to Zane.

I had remembered my promise and I was planning on keeping it.

I ran through camp and everyone moved out of the way and I slid, and I mean slid into the observatory. Zane was awake and was watching in shock as I scrambled back to my feet.

"Tally is here!" I burst out.

His grin showed it all.

"What?" maddie asked in shock from behind me.

"She is back with David! They just flew over the meadow!" I said eagerly.

"Well this should be very interesting" maddie replied leaving the observatory.

"Thank you Megan, I owe you for keeping your promise." Zane whispered.

"No problem Zane just keep strong" I said following maddie.

Tally was standing in the middle of a group of smokies.

She looked like she had been to hell and back.

"Tally!" I said breaking through the crowd.

She smiled.

"Hey Megan, I heard your doing well here! Looks like Zane and I made the right choice" she said coming to hug me.

I ignored the smell of filth on her long enough to hug her back.

"What happened to you tally? We thought you chickened out!" I exclaimed as we broke apart.

"Long story but, where is Zane?" tally asked looking around.

Everyone's face must have fallen including mine because tally gave me a piercing look.

"Where, is, Zane?" she repeated.

"He, err" I started.

"Tally, you can come with me" maddie said saving me.

We all watched as tally Youngblood disappeared into the observatory.

Croy and Fausto caught up with me half way through camp.

Shilo was busy running around chasing the ankles of unsuspecting smokies.

We watched from the middle of the camp, tally came out of the observatory sooner than we thought she would.

She was headed to the river, probably to take a bath.

A few more minutes passed then the radio I kept clipped on my waistline started buzzing.

I picked my radio up and shook it with a confused look.

I switched the main radio on and pings came through.

Tracking pings.

I grabbed my radio and then clicked the talk button.

"Maddie we are being tracked, our location is being transmitted right now, as we speak!" I spoke.

Then the alarms went off and everyone was swarming everywhere.


	10. the loose and win

The camp split into two parts, we were prepared for this so it was instant.

Everyone grabbed things and put them into a pile while maddie and croy scanned everything with a few other smokies.

The rest of the smokies packed them and got ready to move.

I on the other hand had a different job.

David ran towards the river to scan tally that had been the reason smoke was discovered the first time. I got ready for a fight.

My group of smokies were geared up and ready.

The single was coming from the northern direction so we got on our boards and went out there.

We waited watching the sky, our radios ready.

The first few hover cars came into view twenty minutes later.

"Maddie five minutes" I warned over the radio.

I noticed something else between the hover cars.

Hover boards, with lifting fans.

Specials gracefully weaved in and out of the hover cars.

"Everyone scatter" I said through the radio.

My group scattered and I adjusted my backpack with Shilo in it and zoomed off.

Specials spotted us as we scattered and they split up.

I managed to shake the special that was on my tail so by the time I got to the meet up point I was alone and the first.

I heard a yell and croy burst through the cover of our meet up point.

He came in to fast and ended up hitting a tree.

"Croy you ok?" I asked running over to him.

He nodded and got up limping slightly.

Anne and dex came next.

Sussy and Fausto appeared last.

Then two people burst through.

Someone had been followed.

The specials stepped off their boards.

"Everyone slowly get down and put your hands where we can see them" one of them said in a harsh voice.

I was the fastest to fire.

One of the specials bent over grunting and grabbing his face.

"What the hell! I can't move my fingers" he complained. Croy went at another pepper spray at the ready.

The special shot out and grabbed croy's arm and it broke cleanly.

Croy let out a scream, not a yell, not a grunt, but a scream.

I was about to throw myself at the special but Fausto beat me to it.

Fausto and the special wrestled as I ran over and helped croy.

"Go to another meet up spot" I whispered as I pushed him and the others out from the hiding spot.

I grabbed a runaway and tossed it at one of the specials.

She fell down with a crash and swore.

The other special that had gotten Fausto on the ground was up.

"MEGAN RUN!" Fausto shouted.

"Megan? Get her tachs!" the girl screamed.

I ducked the attacking special and grabbed a runaway and the special got tangled into them.

I popped up breathing hard.

"GO YOU DUMBASS" Fausto shouted.

I turned and left.

Observatory

Shay dropped Fausto down in the observatory and turned to cable.

"Megan got away" shay said.

"Dammed" cable hissed.

"Sorry doctor" shay said.

"She threw these at us" shay said throwing a runaway down.

"Obviously her invention" cable said examining it.

"And she shot some type of glue at us, like the outer layer was hard but the inside is very sticky" shay said pointing over her shoulder to tachs who was still peeling sap off his fingers.

"She is getting better at what she does, I feel it's going to get harder to catch her" cable said.

"Well we tried our best, she managed to get away with the others" shay replied crossing her arms.

Shay looked over to tally sitting beside Zane who was lying on a pile of blankets.

"At least we got something new to play with" shay said pointing to the runaways.

"Megan knows her inventions inside out obviously if she was able to escape, I don't think it be a good idea to remake it, if she got her hands on a better version of her own invention she would be unstoppable" cable said shaking her head.

"Really?" shay asked.

"How fast was she able to out fly your boards?" cable asked.

"Pretty fast" shay said.

"She was the one who first invented those boards, even remade and better she still understands the mechanics by a glimpse, she will be able to out run anything she invented." Cable replied.

"She invented these?" shay asked looking at her board.

"Yes she did" cable replied.

Megan

We did a head count once we where a safe distance away.

"We lost a few" I said looking at maddie.

"Zane, tally, Fausto and a few others, not as bad as last time thanks to you" maddie said watching me. "Me?" I asked curiously.

"Your tactics rescued us Megan, you're the one who noticed we were being transmitted" maddie pointed out.

"Yea your our hero today Megan" croy called.

"Not really I didn't really do anything but my job" I said uncomfortably.

"Well you did your job well" maddie said clapping me on the back.

"They got Fausto though, I'm not happy about that, we have to get him back" I said eyeing maddie.

"It's a good thing actually. Means I can work on a cure for specials and we can get him back, I'm putting you in charge of the kidnap mission" maddie said as our eyes met.

"But they also used my own invention to chase us" I added quickly.

"And you used your own inventions to escape" maddie retorted.

"And now they have copies of them to remake" I said crossing my arms.

"Then you can teach people how to escape your own invention" maddie replied.

I sighed, no winning with her tonight.

I nodded and we moved again.

When we were on the edge of the city of Diego we started unpacking.

The next night we started our work.

Croy and I boarded into the city.

It looked like our city at first but as we went on I stopped.

"Croy do you notice anything different?" I asked scanning the ground.

Croy paused to and looked around.

"No why?" he asked.

"There is no separation from uglyvill and new pretty town" I said.

"Are you serious?" croy asked.

"Yes, no wall, no river!" I pointed out.

"Your right" croy said.

We went right for new pretty town.

Pretties where everywhere laughing and enjoying the bashes going around.

Everyone eyed croy curiously.

"Hey what are you doing here?" a girl asked.

Croy looked around and backed up a little.

"He is with me" I said.

"So? Uglies can't be here at night" she said.

At night?

Back in our city uglies were not allowed in new pretty town period, case closed.

"Well, to be honest, if you can keep a secret we are not from this city" I said.

Maybe this city was open minded enough to accept change faster.

She looked at us in surprise.

"You aren't?" she asked.

"We are from a different city in our city everyone is very smart and very successful" I said.

Well maybe a lie or two could help, the cure was tested and a success so we knew it wouldn't hurt them. "Wow you look different, you look prettier than everyone else" she noted.

I smiled all pretties where vain it was a simple fact.

"I'm actually very plain for my city, in our city after the operation we take special pills and we become smarter and better" I said holding up a baggie of pills maddie had given me.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yes we are from smoke" I added.

"Smoke? That's a myth" she said narrowing her eyes.

"Nope" I replied.

"I want to be smart" she said looking at the pills longingly.

Pretties where very dumb as well.

"Well these are just extra's here you can have them, but you have to take both of them" I said handing her the packet.

She nodded.

"Don't tell any wardens you have them" I added.

She nodded and walked away staring at the pills in her hands.

In about two days she would return to her old self, her ugly mind, it would feel like an intelligence gain but would simply be her returning to her natural state of mind.

Word spread fast of the pills and soon pretties where approaching us asking for some.

By the end of the night we were out.

As we watched the city the next few days' runaways started pouring in like crazy.

Soon the wardens where swarming the nearby ruins searching for the missing uglies and pretties.

Our supplies widened greatly and we were able to get more pills out faster.

Soon finally the mayor himself gave up.

In the matter of three weeks, the city was ours and the smokies where public.

Now the smokies didn't have to stay out in the wild.

I was given my lab as promised by maddie and she was given hers.

When I walked through the streets people recognized me from feeds.

Shilo was a big attraction.

She followed me around just as she had done in the wilderness.

She was hunting on her own now and I did try and release her but she ended up finding me again.

Soon I just gave up on Shilo ever having a life in the wild.

She didn't seem to mind being a city cat at all; she thrived on the attention and the food.

She caused very few problems but talk went around of her being put in a zoo.

She still had a tendency to throw herself on people.

I ignored the talk about it and kept her with me at all times.

She knew not to chase after people now and she stayed close.

She still would tackle croy and the other smokies though.

I stayed in a small house on the edge of crumblyvill with maddie and croy.

There we made it the headquarters to the smokies.

Expansion ripped to life because runaways from all over where now starting to get in.

We found a man named Andrew smith Johnson wandering around the wild during a mission to a city. He had been trapped inside of a cruel experiment by special circumstances.

We released a lot of his villagers and taught them how to give out chips that gave directions to the city. Point by point they never gave the exact location.

This was an idea of mine.

Diego even loaned us a fleet of helicopters there rangers used.

I started working in the labs on the plan to capture Fausto.

I had the plan worked out maddie just needed to get her end done.


	11. planning

**Ok so everyone has been telling me that the formatting of my writing is very hard to read, I do apologize I just wanted to make sure it wasn't all bunched together, this is my new formatting and I will try and stick to it the old formatting is a little bit of a habit now and I find I accidentally write out whole school papers in the old format, hope you guys enjoy!**

I flew over the wild blissfully, I enjoyed missions like these. Maddie had taken back my limits now that I was in charge of kidnapping Fausto back. I had to set everything up perfectly; I had to make sure we were at an advantage.

I had a raw plan in my head but I needed to scout the area's first, and then start to really work on the plan. I knew right away that once I got into the area in mind, my brain would start working, inventions would start coming up like never before.

I had my motivation and that was Fausto. He had given himself up willingly and I was now in charge of getting him back. I refused to leave him behind like he had refused to leave me behind. Fausto was the reason I was who I was today. Without fausto's intervention I would have been a special by now. I wouldn't have reunited with croy and I wouldn't have found Shilo.

Shilo was to big now to carry on a hover board so she was right now in the helicopter with Anne and dex following behind me. They would get off at the ruins and I would hike with them to the city. The reason I wasn't in the helicopter with them was because I was mentally mapping out everything, finding places we could meet up, places we could easily use to hide.

When I got to the ruins the first thing out of the helicopter was Shilo. Her massive paws padded on the cracked cement and she sniffed a few burnt out ground cars before jumping on me. Her claws lightly pressed against my skin as she said hello.

Anne and dex followed behind her and we started our hike. My brain took in my surroundings and I memorized every little nook and cranny, I knew that even in the dark I would be able to find the chosen hiding places.

We stopped for the night on the outskirts of the city, far away from the river as possible. Our boards had enough charge in them to last a while, thanks to my tampering I managed to reduce solar usage on the boards, they now could charge as we flew across the wild.

The next morning we went to the trails right on the outskirts of the city. People would go and camp in the trails but it still had a magnetic grid in case a hover car needed to get through. This was the perfect place.

"we need to make a diversion of sorts, make it seem like we are not after Fausto but something else, I think we should try and steal some of the specials boards" I said. Anne nodded in agreement "lets say everyone Is wearing sneak suits, we lure the specials out here and ambush them, we need something that can get them out, we also need to get them out here without sneak suits" I continued as I circled the area. "How?" dex asked. "maddie says the cure will be done by the end of winter, if we wait until the ugly spring welcome bash then maybe we can lure the specials out to the party claiming pills are being passed around, that way they would come dressed as uglies and not in sneak suits" I replied.

"Ok so let's say they come to the party, how are we going to get them out here?" dex asked. "We escape and they chase" I replied. "How can you escape specials though in such a place? A party filled with fragile uglies?" Anne pointed out. "that's where I come in, I think I have an idea but I need to test it out first in the lab, once we get them into the trees I know exactly how we can ambush them, I know I can easily create what I'm thinking of right now, the only tricky part is diverting them from Fausto" I replied. "Well what do you think should happen?" Anne asked.

"We will play it out by ear, I'm almost done on our ear pieces so we should have more than enough time before everything plays out" I replied. I walked over to another area in the trails.

**Fausto**

Fausto walked through the cutters camp; it had been a long week of training. Fausto went to sit next to shay who was busy going through files. "What's that boss?" Fausto asked. "Research, I'm trying to get into your little girlfriends mind" shay replied. Fausto chuckled "been there done that, trust me it's a headache waiting to happen" he said.

"if I can think like her then maybe I can catch her, she is on the most wanted list as of last week, Megan was spotted on the outskirts uglyvill last week, she is up to something" shay replied turning over a sheet of paper. Fausto raised his eyebrow, he knew Megan well, and she had a stubborn attitude, once something got in it stayed in.

Fausto wished so badly right now that Megan was here with him, the specials could really have used her. He also wished she was here because he simply missed her. Life was boring without her crazy inventions. Fausto imagined the cutters playing with some new gadget of hers using it more for fun then what they were made for.

Fausto had continued her training sessions with the specials and even for the specials her little program was a pain in the ass. Fausto just shook his head and sighed. "Ok well if you need help call me boss" Fausto replied getting up.

**Megan**

I sat in my lab bent over a bungee jacket. I had been messing with it all day, taking it apart and putting it back together. I understood exactly how it worked now and was certain if I had wanted to I could make my own. I wasn't trying to make a bungee jacket though; I was trying to make a repelling jacket. I snapped the last things into place and put it on.

The green light shone telling me it was ready to go. Croy watched me as I took the remote and hit the power button. I shot up instantly smashing into the ceiling. Croy yelled out as rubble from the ceiling fell down smashing things all around the lab. My head hurt from the impact but otherwise I was ok. I laughed "perfect" I said beaming. "Danm Megan is you ok?" croy asked as he tried to get a piece of ceiling out of his hair. "Perfect" I repeated. "We just need to make it less obvious now" I said taking it off.

I worked some more and in the end had a vest that looked nothing like a bungee jacket. I called David and told him to meet me outside at the park. As we left the whole floor was peaking out of their doors. "What happened?" one of the scientist asked. "Oh an experiment that we underestimated, everything is good the room is bigger now" I said beaming at him. The middle pretty looked into my lab and let out an odd "oh" noise.

The other people in the building had at first thought I was adorable. A sixteen year old playing scientist, they all humored me in the start but when I actually came up with things that worked and worked well they all were shocked. They all took me very seriously now and were use to small explosions and bangs coming from my lab. I had destroyed three labs my now and I was always reminded to test some of my more "interesting" experiments out of the city limits. Of course I ignored it most of the time.

David met us at the park as planned. "David I finally worked out the kinks in my escape plan, let's say that you in a sneak suit are hovering above the party, and let's say you have another hover board with you, and say this one" I said pushing my board onto him. He took it and just listened. "And let's say its set to hover along with you" I added as I pushed a few buttons. "Then you're holding this remote and I'm wearing this jacket" I said putting the vest on and tossing him the remote. "I put my arms up like this and it's the signal, of course you see it because of inferred, so then when you get the signal you hit that said button and swoop down in an arc. Now hit the button" I said.

David just raised his eyebrow and hit the button. I felt the straps tighten and then jerk my whole body up. I'm sure I left my stomach on the ground along with the other insides of my body. David let out a shout as I flew up and up and up. I finally started slowly falling. I made sure to count the seconds between going up and falling back down. My crash bracelets caught me and it was just like taking a bad fall off a hover board.

David was laughing "Megan you're absolutely insane!" he commented. "Well it's the insane people that make it!" I replied. "Ok so the idea is to catch you as you fall then?" David asked. "Yes, I have a measuring coil we are going to use, help me get the hook nail into the ground" I said unloading objects from my pockets. After a nail was securely into the ground and the end of the coil was snapped into place I put the measure end on my belt. This time when I flew up the coil unwounded. When I landed I grabbed the coil and read the measurement. "Ok you're going to want to make a low arc around here so let's say an extra five feet up?" I suggested.

David nodded and we got into place. Croy was our pretend special. "You're under arrest!" croy said grinning. "Don't think so special" I said raising my arms out and sticking my thumbs up. I shot upward and right as I began to fall David zoomed by. I missed the board and ended up face first in the grass after my crash bracelets oh so nicely put me on the ground. "Ok try again we need to practice, make this perfect!" I said popping up. "Uh are you sure you don't want to take a break Megan? You hit the ground pretty hard on that one" David called from up above us. I smiled "no again!" I insisted.

We practiced for a full hour but had to stop for the day because we were attracting a crowd of curious onlookers and this was a dangerous invention, it could go wrong at any minute and we didn't want anyone hurt.

Days passed and every day we practiced the move and soon by the end of the week we had a large crowd of people who would come and watch. Wardens where forced to put a barrier up to keep them away. Hover cams circled us and watched us.

"Megan freeman properly known as the new young master mind in the smoky rebellion is out putting her skills to work, an invention she created right now is in use by her, this invention will be used for an upcoming secret mission, remember everyone don't try this unless you are qualified" a middle pretty said into her hover cam.

I didn't like being on the feeds in fear that they would go global and doctor cable would find out our hide out. Finally when we mastered the escape plan maddie came up with a cure to test. I just had to make one more invention, and then we would be ready to go. We would be ready to save Fausto. I would be ready to prove myself once again to cable, prove that I was not to be messed with and that she would fall.


	12. recovering fausto

The anxiety that went through my body was becoming unbearable. The helicopter trip was a long one as anticipation flooded through the cabin. David put his hand reassuringly on my own and croy gave my shoulder a soft squeeze.

"Are you sure we have everything David? Sneak suits, shock arrows? Did you remember to drop Shiloh off at maddies?" I asked for the hundredth time. "Yes all of it is packed up and I even have the ear buds charged" David said.

"Thank you, you're the only one I could trust to remember everything" I said shooting dex a dirty look. Dex had nearly forgotten my repelling jacket and he knew I wasn't to happy about that. Dex looked away uneasily and rubbed his arm where I had shot him with a sting glue ball by "mistake."

"Ok guys we are going to drop you off here, good luck" the ranger who was driving the helicopter said over the radio. We landed and all of us got out and unpacked everything. A group of runaways where waiting at the drop of point and watched us curiously as we got out and unloaded everything.

"Megan!" a very familiar voice said. I flew around to see who had called me. "SKYLER!" I nearly screamed. The run away's and the smokies both watched me in shock as I half beat up half hugged my little brother.

"YOU LITTLE UGLY! WHY HAVENT YOU RETURNED MY PINGS!" I yelled as I punched him. "Because the city kept rejecting my pings to you!" skyler yowled as he rubbed his arm. "I missed you! Skyler I'm so glad you got out! That city is about to become a war zone" I said as I crushed him into a hug.

"What do you mean?" skyler asked. "The cure is getting around fast; the city will rebel soon enough against the government!" I explained. "Then why are you going back?" skyler asked me with a confused look.

"Because I'm the one who is going to start this war" I said with a grin. "What do you mean?" skyler asked carefully. "Remember those crazy inventions I use to make?" I asked him. Skyler nodded slowly

"well they have become useful, when you get to the new smoke ask the doctors for maddie, tell them your name is skyler freeman and your sister is Megan freeman, if they don't let you see her then wait for me to get back this shouldn't take too long" I said giving skyler on last hug.

Skyler nodded then got into the helicopter and was surrounded by his travel group. "Your little brother?" croy asked raising his eyebrow. "Yes and I know he will be able to help us, my brother may not be able to invent things like I can but he is an escape artist" I explained.

"That could be useful" croy agreed. We watched the helicopter take off before leaving the drop off point. "ok the gear is split up between different teams, this means that if you get lost or captured I will personally find you and kill you myself, if you don't remember where to meet up at please clarify now so we don't have any said problems" I said cheerfully.

Everyone snickered a little and even humored me by flinching theatrically. "Ok guys see you at the meet up" I said jumping on my board and flying off. Croy and I where traveling together. "So what is the backup plan if one of them doesn't make it?"Croy asked as we zoomed away.

"then we continue on with the mission, me and you we have the most essential parts of the plan, I constructed the plan in such a way that if someone did not make it the plan could go on, as long as you and I make it we can do this" I assured croy. "What about David?" croy asked.

"I don't have to worry about David, I know he will make it, he knows what he is doing" I replied. Around noon we made it to the meet up point and discovered everyone had made it. "Good, where there any pursuits?" I asked when David brought me up to speed.

"None and even if there where I don't think anyone would have gotten caught, your training program has seemed to make us a lot stronger and faster" David told me. "Well then looks like I'm doing something good, come on let's get set up" I said a bit louder so everyone could hear me.

While we were setting everything up someone rose the alarm. "Unidentified hoverboard approaching!" Anne said pointing to the skyline. I looked up and indeed found in the skyline someone approaching directly to us. "Get the board crasher ready, shooters lock and load" I said beckoning everyone to get down.

As the board got closer I decided what to do. "David I'm going to shut the board down you go catch who ever that it" I whispered. David nodded then shot up. Right as David left the building I hit the board crasher and David shot forward and barley caught the rider.

A scream pierced the air around us and David hauled the rider into the tower. I grabbed a runaway and threw it before the rider could get up and run. The rider shrieked and everyone moved out of the way as I approached the rider. The rider was wearing a wind helmet but by the sounds of the shrieks it was a woman.

I ripped her helmet off and found myself face to face with the head of the Diego wardens. "Stel!" I said backing up nervously. "What is wrong with you smokies!" she shrieked. "Well you kind of where headed right for us!" I snapped. "Because the city sent me! Didn't maddie warn you?" stel asked furiously.

"Um no!" I replied back. "Well the city did, they wanted me in on this so the city could have some claim" stel replied. "Release her" I said turning around. Once stel was released she brushed herself off. "Ok we leave at dusk, we should get to the bash around nightfall, does everyone remember there rolls?" stel asked.

"Um excuse me who put you in charge?" I asked dropping the remote to the repelling jacket back into its case. "Well considering I am the highest official here" stel replied crossing her arms. "in Diego yes, but out here I am in charge, so unless you want to end up being tied up and left in the tower I would shut it" I warned her.

"Excuse me but who's supplying the gear?" stel asked. "The suppliers don't run the show, it's the one who puts the supplies to good use" I sneered. "Ms. Freeman if you don't cooperate I will have to give you consequences when we get back to Diego" stel attempted.

"You think I care? If you give me any consequences the smokies will be more than happy to leave Diego and I'm sure our runaways would follow in suit, you don't want to mess with us stel, this is a rebellion so don't think we are not afraid" I said as I walked towards stel.

Stel just gave me a look and crossed her arms again. "Fine" she said putting her nose in the air. "Hey stel if it makes you feel any better, we would have followed Megan over you anyway" croy said grinning. "ok guys now that our entertainment has finished her act, we will get down to business, everyone this is a very important mission and you all know it, stick to the plan unless I say so or unless there is a special pouncing on you" is all I told them.

After everyone was dismissed I turned to stel. "you are to stay here and watch everything, no offense stel but you don't have the same training as they do, the only thing you can do to make sure this mission runs smoothly Is make sure everything is safe in here, dex will be with you the whole time so don't worry about being left to defend yourself" I told her as I packed my gear up.

"Excuse me but I know how to defend myself!" stel said crossing her arms yet again. I rolled my eyes then turned around and grabbed her wrist; she was on the ground within seconds. "Yea uhuh" I said as I jumped on my board.

As I flew away I realized I was thankful for stel being here. She had distracted me from my anxiety and had helped me show my dominance over this mission. I was fired up and ready to go now. It took three hours at a stream to get all of the plastic bits on my face.

I had to be an ugly tonight, otherwise this wouldn't work. Finally it was time to go to the bash. "How do I look?" I asked David. "Like a beautiful ugly" he said grinning. "Har har, the irony" I replied as I gathered my board up. "Croy get over here!" I shouted.

Croy appeared from the woods smirking. "So you sure you want to be seen with a face like that?" croy teased. "Croy do you want me to make it so the surgeons have more to work on if they catch you?" I asked grinning back. "Oh come on Megan stop being sour lets to" croy said grinning. I nodded and we flew off to the spring bash.

When we arrived it was crowded with uglies, everyone was drinking and talking to themselves. Nobody broke out into a dance and I found that to be normal. Uglies never danced, they where to insecure. "Ok guys wait for the signal" I whispered into my ear piece.

"Hey you never told us what the signal was Megan" dex said. "Well its obviously going to be an ugly who magically leaps eighteen feet in the air" I said sarcastically. "Ok, ok I got it" dex said quickly. He obviously still remembered earlier this morning. A few more uglies joined the group and I kept a sharp eye around. Then I saw him.

He was an ugly and he was gliding through the crowd, uglies did not glide, they stumbled. Then I realized I knew that glide that was fausto. "Get ready" I whispered to the feed. Fausto was standing next to two other girl uglies. I recognized them as tally and shay instantly.

Tally looking just as insecure as ever and shay acting as if she owned the world. Fausto's eyes met mine and he smiled, he knew it was me to, he didn't say anything to tally or shay though. I nodded at him and then turned into the crowd and grabbed onto a random boy.

"Hey you want to do something to help the smokies?" I whispered. The boy looked at me wide eyed. "Yes!" he said instantly. Just as I had said that the music changed and everyone started dancing around. I wrapped my arms around the guy and started a slow dance.

"These pills need to go to someone in particular, make sure they end up in new pretty town, ever heard of the crims?" I whispered into his ear. "Yea" he replied with excitement. "find Zane the leader of the crims, bring him the pills and tell him the smoke lives on as long as Megan is around" I told him. I slipped the pills I had on me into his pocket.

"Hey mind if I cut in?" someone asked. I turned around and saw tally was now with us. "You mean you and her?" the boy asked grinning. "Yea, maybe she wants some to" I said stepping forward. Now it was time to bait. Before I could bait though tally's mask disappeared. "Get lost kid, you get your hands out of your pockets" she snarled.

I nervously took my hands out of my pockets then spread them out and pointed my thumbs up. "The new smoke lives" I hissed. I then shot up in the air. David caught me just as planned and everyone scattered. Tally sat there looking dumbstruck.

"Brush fingers with me David" I commanded. Tally needed to get on her board and follow; I knew this would fire her up. David complied and tally began to move instantly. "Come on Megan be nice to tally" David snapped. "Well I had to get her to follow!" I replied back.

We weaved in and out of crumblyvill making it so the specials couldn't do anything yet, they wouldn't have the death of a crumbly on their hands. Finally we hit the trails. "There hot on me, everyone get ready now!" I hissed as I leapt of my board and pulled my sneak suit on.

The cutters then landed and silently walked around. I shot the first arrow. The attack began, tally and shay dodged most of our arrows but I finally got shay. Fausto was down a few moments later. "Boards" I hissed as I ran forward and grabbed shay.

We lifted into the air and made for the river. "David you hold her back with shay" I shouted as I threw shay onto him. David grabbed onto shay and turned around as I shot past him. Ten minutes later David caught up with us right as we flew into the tower.

"Pack up everyone, inject fausto with this" I barked commands as I threw two needles at croy. One was the sedative one was the cure. "Make sure the cure goes in first" I added as I packed up. We were out of there within five minutes. "Wow you seem to have everything under control" stel shouted as we shot towards the pickup point.

"I told you I had it all under control" I shouted back. "To bad" stel shouted. "What?" I asked. Stel then flew at me and tried to push me off my board. "What the hell!" David shouted as he wheeled around to grab stel. He knocked her out and we flew on when we got to the pickup point we woke stel up.

"Did the specials send you?" I said the moment she was aware. "No" she replied. "then why did you try to throw me off my board?" I yelled furiously. "You think I would allow a bunch of rebellious misfits to take the glory for something the city made happen?" she asked me. "Did you come on your own or did the city send you?" I snarled.

"Does It matter?" she asked laughing. I growled and punched her in the face. "If you like your face it does" I yelled. David and croy grabbed my arms to stop me from punching her again. "I don't think your buddies would allow that" stel said smirking. I grabbed David and flipped him and used my legs to throw croy off balance.

"no one can hold me down" I snarled. "I came myself" stel said trying to block her face. "Now give me one good reason why we shouldn't throw you into the wild?" I asked menacingly. Stel stayed silent. "Pack her up into the helicopter make sure she can't escape" I ordered as I walked away from her.

I knelt down to where fausto had been laid down. I ran my hands over his face softly. He opened his eyes and smiled. "About time Megan, I was starting to seriously miss you" he said softly. I laughed as tears fell down my face and embraced him. "We are back together and no one will tear us apart again" I whispered.


	13. Planning phase two

My first steps into Diego where greeted by smokies all cheering happily. I had come back from my mission with success and I had brought our first cured special back with us. I was a hero now, a hero to the smokies and to the run away's who would soon hear of this. I was also a hero because I had brought stel down; the city was already dealing with her now as I sat in the ground car going to meet up with maddie.

Fausto sat next to me waving out of the window as we passed a group of cheering smokies. "So tell me about how things are here" fausto asked me brightly. "Well, everyone here is very open minded, you will see some bizarre body modifications during your time here" I told him. "Shiloh, how is she settling into city life?" fausto asked curiously.

"She likes it as far as I can tell; she is massive now almost full grown. We don't think she is a normal bob cat, she must be some descendant to the rusties genetic experiments, she is bigger than a lion and she grew fast" I explained. "Have you actually done any tests on her?" fausto asked. "Nope, I don't care what she is, she is my Shiloh" I replied grinning.

The ground car stopped and fausto and I got out. Maddie was waiting for us outside of the house we were using at the smokie head quarters. Maddie gathered us up into a hug and we heard a shout. "MADDIE THAT THING IS TEARING THE FRONT DOOR UP!" I turned around to see the front door bursting open and Shiloh burst through its followed by skyler.

I didn't even try to run because I knew she would catch me. Shiloh smashed right into my throwing all of her weight on me. "SHILOH!" I yelled happily as she vigorously licked my face and squeezed me with her massive paws. "OK, OK OFF GIRL OFF!" I giggled as she started to seriously tickle me.

Shiloh wouldn't get off me though so I had to haul myself up. Shiloh tried to jump up to my shoulder but ended up throwing us both down onto the lawn. "Shi your too big for that crazy" I teased as she followed behind me. Skyler was watching me with bulging eyes. I thought he was afraid of me at first because of how I handled Shiloh but then I realized fausto was standing right behind me.

"Skyler!" I said brightly as I gathered him up into a hug. "Im glad you found maddie little twerp" I smirked as I ruffled his hair. "What is he?" skyler asked backing up from me as fausto advanced to us. "Skyler this is fausto he is one of our cities surged up super humans-" "that's a special skyler, but he has had the cure and I guess the cure is working then?" maddie asked interrupting me.

I raised my eyebrow "I explained everything to him while you were gone, may I say talent runs in your family Megan, skyler has been planning mass evacuation points out of the city and as far as fifty klicks out of the city" maddie told me. "Well he is a little bit of an escape artist if you ask me" I said smiling proudly.

"Megan did you really escape right from the grasps of a whole team of specials?" skyler asked me beaming. "Yes I did but don't let maddie over play it, it was just luck" I said shrugging. "Not with your inventions! Maddie has been showing them to me and she showed me some over things you where working on!

Your skill has improved since you where an ugly" skyler said excitedly. "Yea and yours seems to have improved since you where a littlie" I grinned. "Well I'm not a littlie anymore" skyler said shrugging. "Yup I guess you're not, what are you fourteen now?" I asked.

"Fifteen in a month" skyler proudly said. "One more year and you will be pretty aged, let's hope no one makes you one" I said ruffling his hair one more time before going inside. Inside waiting for me was the rest of the mission team. "Three cheers for the leader of the freeman unit!" calie yelled.

The others cheered and I smirked. "Ok shut up now, I want you to take three more cheers, not for me but for yourselves. A body doesn't work without its limbs and muscles, you guys are those very much needed limbs and muscles" I said smiling.

Everyone cheered again "ok guys we have one new member joining us and we have an old member returning, everyone my little brother skyler will be our escape master mind, and may I re introduce our very own unit special!" I said grinning as fausto followed me into the room. Everyone cheered again and croy got up and hugged fausto.

"I missed you bro!" croy said grinning big. I smiled and watched the scene before me. We were all here, my little brother, my best friend, my boyfriend, my family. What touched me the most was how we all got along. Even croy and fausto who had nearly ripped each other throat out a few times. "Ok, maddie I think phase two of our plan is falling into place is Andrew ready and in place" skyler said checking a remote.

"Phase two?" I asked. "Oh sit down guys, skyler pointed something out while you guys were gone, skyler why don't you present the plan" maddie said smiling. We all sat down and skyler nervously started talking. "Well I pointed out to maddie; wouldn't it be dangerous to have smokies traveling back and forth from the two cities so much? It's one thing for runaways who make a one way trip but those who return frequently would be a target, so I thought if the cure works, why not bring the specials to us instead of risking it to go back" he said nervously.

"So how is that working out?" I asked. "well I got the idea from a story maddie told me about tally Youngblood, when tally was missing in the wild she ended up on that wild pre rusty reservation kept by the specials, well we tracked the camp down and broke them out, we found one named Andrew smith Johnson who claims he knows tally very well, they are a wacky bunch and are convinced pretties are gods, well why not send Andrew to hand out a tracking chip to tally?" skyler finished.

"That be too obvious if Andrew just showed up and randomly handed her one" I noted. "Well he is in on the plan and is surprisingly smart, he will do it in a non point blank way" skyler explained. "Ok this seems like a full proof plan, what do we do once tally and the specials come busting in here?" I asked.

"Well we are leaving that one up to you" maddie said giving me a hopeful look. "hmm, I think maybe we should lure little tally-wa and shay-la into an ambush, maybe let them wander the city a little before catching them so they can see what the smokies have become, let the impact hit them when they are in there so called "icy" state" I said as I walked around the map of the city spread out before us.

"That seems like a good idea, any other things to add?" maddie asked. "fausto, I need you to rig something up that we can put around the city and sense when a special passes over it, can you do that?" I asked looking at fausto. Fausto smirked "oh yeaa you know I can baby" "good, now I think we should get you to maddies lab to make sure that cure is working" I said ruffling his hair.

"Yes, fausto I hope you don't mind if I run a few tests on you right?" maddie asked. "Sure stick me doc" fausto said like his old self. I smiled and went with them to maddies lab. While maddie scanned fausto in her lab next door I went to my own. I had to find a new way to administer the cure from far away. I picked up an arrow shaft and examined it before sticking a drill in the middle of it.

After I hollowed the shaft out I snatched a few needles from maddie and broke the tips off. After I had nano glued the needle tip to the arrow I grabbed a vial of the cure I had kept from the mission and filled the shaft. I sealed it off and capped the needle.

I knocked on the door of maddies lab. "There you are Megan, what have you been up to? We missed you this past hour" maddie said as she turned from an x-ray of fausto. I waved the arrow around "look at what I made" I said smirking. "Is that what I think it is?" she asked getting up. "Shootable cure" I said smirking. "Why did you make that?" maddie asked.

"I have a feeling we might need it when shay and tally show up. Those two are tricky" I said shrugging. "Obviously your trickier though, damn mean" fausto said examining it. "well we need to be prepared from all sides, based on the GPS chip directions it will take a week for tally and shay to get here, we have one week to prepare, I want skyler to go out with me tonight and map out the best ambush points and escape routes" I said as I loaded the arrow onto my bow.

"I want more of that cure and I want these arrows mass reproduced, the only people allowed with these are to be the freeman unit and only after I teach them how to handle them, do you have anything to add or do you disagree on anything maddie?" I asked as I pulled the line back on my bow and aimed the arrow at the training dummy in the corner.

"Nope it seems like a good plan, do you see any holes in it fausto?" maddie asked. Fausto just shrugged "I see none and to be honest if there was one I know Megan will spot it herself, I think it's about time we just go along with Megan's plans without really questioning them" fausto said.

I smiled "flattering fausto but I like it when my plans are questions, I need them questions to make sure the errors are taken out" I said releasing the bow cord. The arrow shot into the dummy and stayed intact. I pulled the arrow out and saw some liquid leaking off the dummy.

"Is that good enough maddie?" I asked pointing to the spot. "All that is needed is a microscopic prick that breaks the skin and even one nano. This time we need only the nano's specials have anti-nano's in their brains already" maddie said as she examined it. "Ok then, let's go get to work making more of these, let's get ready to kick some special butt!" I said grinning.


	14. A whole team of cutters

Alarms where screaming everywhere and I was desperately trying to find a way to fausto. Where did fausto go? Shiloh was hissing at something in front of us and she refused to let me go in front of her. A rain of metal came flying down and one of them hit Shiloh. She fell to the ground dead instantly. My screams where drowned out to an ear rattling explosion.

I couldn't see straight, everything was blurring around the edges. Cable was approaching me, laughing and she was dragging someone with her. Fausto was being dragged by the hair. "That little invention did not work! Because of you smoke a Diego have fallen!" she crackled. I walked forward to her.

"I may not have any inventions but I will end you right here and right now cable" I snarled. Cable just laughed and pierced my chest with a handful of needles and slid them down my chest. It stung badly. I opened my eyes to see Shiloh lying across me digging her nails into my chest as she purred. "ouch shi" I groaned pushing her off of me.

"I thought it felt like I was being sat on by something" fausto groaned from next to me as Shiloh got off of him to. "We really should consider keeping her in the yard at night" fausto muttered. "I think we should seriously consider putting you in the yard and letting Shiloh have her bed half back" I teased. "Oh so funny" fausto said rolling his eyes.

I was just about to kiss fausto on the cheek when I heard a shocked yell and a crash of sorts. I was up within a second and fausto was already out of the door. "Behind me Megan" fausto yelled shoving me behind him. "Skyler where are you?" I yelled as we got into the front room. Standing in a pile of rubble was shay and maddie on the floor. I pushed past fausto and shay grabbed me.

Shays arm was tight around my neck. "I'm here to save you fausto, quick out the door I will knock her out!" shay shouted. "No wait shay! Put Megan down! She is with us!" fausto said quickly. "What?" shay asked. "I convinced Megan to come to cables side last night, we were going to escape tonight!" fausto said. "This true Megan? Tell the truth I will know if you're lying or not" shay hissed in my ear.

"Yes, I'd rather be with fausto!" I gasped through her hold. I could see our reflection in the mirror hanging in the front hall, my face was turning red. There was a vicious growl then and Shiloh was stalking shay with her tail twitching. "Put her down shay-la or the cat will get you" fausto warned. Shay released me "Shiloh chill" I said stumbling forward and wrapping my arms around her massive neck.

I didn't have to bend over much to wrap my arms around her neck. "Well looks like I helped you guys out a little" shay said rubbing her grungy looking hair. "Yea you sure helped! You broke the door down and you tried to strangle me!" I shot at shay. Shay just shrugged and stretched. "Megan is everything ok?" skyler asked nervously entering the hall with his eyes on shay.

"Yes, no shay don't even think about it! That's my little brother and he is coming with us" I said eyeing shay as she knelt into a crouch. "Go get me maddies medic bag skyler" I said as I walked towards maddie. "Why?" shay asked standing in front of me. "Well I'm not just going to leave her there, you think the cutters should get an even worse name then they already have?" I asked staring right into shays eyes.

Shay just huffed and let me pass without any more challenges. Skyler returned with maddies medic bag and I zipped it open. "I'm going to sedate her in case she wakes up" I said as I grabbed a syringe from the back. Shay nodded "fausto come help me, hold this" I said handing him the syringe. Fausto took it and noted what was in the syringe. "Stab it in her neck" I said prodding at maddies neck. Fausto nodded then turned around and stabbed the syringe right into shays neck.

Shay screamed and broke out of Fausto's hold. "DON'T LET HER ESCAPE!" I shouted. Fausto tackled shay and held her down while she struggled. A minute later shay calmed down. "What was that?" she asked gritting her teeth. "shay-la listen to me, cable messed with your mind the same way the government messes with the pretties mind, that was the cure for the special lesions" I said softly as I knelt down.

"How do I know you're not lying? You lied earlier and I couldn't tell if it was a lie or not" shay said. "How do you feel shay?" I asked her. "I feel, calm" she said looking right into my eyes. "For the first time since becoming a special right?" I asked. "Yes, your right" she said. Fausto got off of shay and she got up and then to my surprise hugged me tightly.

"Thank you Megan" she whispered into my ear. A groan came from maddie and she sat up. "NO! WAIT SHAY DON'T HURT MEGAN!" maddie said leaping up and tearing me out of shays arm. "Maddie its ok! Megan and fausto cured her!" skyler piped up. "What? Oh, shay how do you feel?" maddie asked. "Calm maddie! I feel relieved and calm!" shay said grinning.

"How do we know you're not lying?" maddie asked. "Trust me maddie, it worked" fausto said grabbing us all into a hug. "This means we have hope now, we have real hope!" fausto whispered. "there has always been hope fausto, ever since the smokies became real, there was hope, we have finally started to achieve the smokie rebellion goal, we have finally found a way to bring the specials down and now that we have two cured specials we can advance more" maddie said wiping a tear from her eye.

"How about a whole team of cured specials? Better yet how about a whole team of cured cutters" shay said grinning. "Can it be done? All the cutters?" I asked hopefully. "Yes Megan, me and you we can think of a way, we can! Put that brain to good use how can we do this?" shay asked. "Well, as a unit it be hard, but what if we could separate them and take them down one by one?" I asked.

"That's brilliant! I can go back to the city and call the whole team in for back up, on the way back I can get them one at a time! Maddie I need a few dozen rounds of the cure and a week, also know this, tally is on her way, she decided to come in with the crims we followed here, some guy named Andrew gave us a GPS map to Diego, so I moved ahead but tally stayed" shay said as she dug through her bag to retrieve the mapping chip from her bag.

"Zane must be with that group then huh?" maddie asked. "of course, she should be here in a few days time, when she gets here track her down, get that cure into her, use fausto she will be distracted, Megan work the rest out I have to get going now" shay said as maddie handed her a bag full of injectors. "Ok I will get it worked out, skyler I need those maps, call the freeman unit, it seems we have another mission" I said grinning. Shay then nodded and left to go plan.

Four days later

This was it; this was the moment of truth. Tally had been in this city for the whole day wandering around; we let the city sink into her. Tally found her way to the overlook that night and I instantly had the plans worked out. We sat in the darkness of the trees now, archer's stances taken. Fausto was talking to her. I had a clear shot of tally but I kept to my own plan.

Fausto would get her, we were just back up. Tally was dangerous so we needed to have a backup. Tally was the most dangerous special because she had been used by the city. Used to find smoke, used to bring down smoke, used in the city, used in the wild. Tally was due to be paranoid and fierce. Fausto made his move; I watched his beautiful grace as he went at her. I thought it had worked for a second. F

For one second I got ready to leap out of the tree and onto my waiting board, I was ready to tackle tally into a hug and be the one to ask her how she felt, to bring her to Zane who was in the hospital getting his brain fixed from maddies nano's. Tally got away though. We scattered and followed her down the cliff she had jumped off of. "Hey I think I see something!" Anne called from over her shoulder. "What is it?" David asked floating over to her.

"It's about the size of a baseball" Anne replied. "It's probably just a squirrel" croy called laughing. "Not unless it's on fire!" Anne insisted. "Check it out" I yelled as I hovered over to join them. "It's the wardens!" calie shouted. "Oh shit, they won't be too happy with us, scatter!" I shouted.

The next morning shay came. She burst through our door breaking it again. She was flanked by the rest of her cutters. "We have a serious problem maddie!" she said breathlessly. "What is it?" maddie asked. "A few weeks ago tally and I accidently destroyed the city armory, they think it was Diego, they are on their way to attack! They have everything they had left, they are going to bomb city hall and take the city over" shay said franticly.

"Megan!" maddie yelled. "I'm here I heard it all" I said coming up from behind maddie. "Get in contact with the mayor, I will handle city defense, shay you come with me, one half go with maddie, other half with me, skyler come with me" I ordered. The freeman unit joined us as we walked through the doorway of the city defense headquarters.

I looked at the directory and ignored the looks we got from passing people. I found the floor we needed and we got into the elevator. I burst into the head of city defense's office. "Hey you can't go back there!" a receptionist snapped. "Block her" I ordered. Two specials blocked her and I opened the door. A middle pretty sat at a desk pouring over paper work.

"Excuse me; you can't just come barging in here! Get out now!" he said getting up. "Actually I think not, shay doors, ho, tachs make sure he doesn't call anyone" I said as I walked right to him. "My name is Megan freeman, I am first in command of the smokie defense resistance, and I was sent by our leader maddie, the city of Diego has a serious problem that you should be made aware of" I said sitting down coolly.

"What type of serious problem ms. Freeman?" the man said slowly. "The first war in over three hundred years, or should I say the first invasion in three hundred years" I said crossing my legs. "Why should I believe such a stupid idea?" he asked. I looked at shay and she nodded. "This should prove everything" shay said hitting the wall screen boot up button. She inserted a chip into it and it booted up.

"we have reason to believe that the city of Diego are behind the attack on the armory a couple weeks ago, it has been reported by my cutters that the smokies now have usage of sneak suits and since all of ours are accounted for we have also assumed Diego has joined forces with the smokies, we leave in three days time with all our defenses, if it is possible catch maddie and David and also make sure Megan freeman is delivered to me right away the moment she is captured, no harm is to come to her, when and if anyone hears anything of the cutters whereabouts please contact me right away, it is essential we get them in on this, I feel they can bring me those three without a problem" cables voice rang through.

"That's not possible, no" the middle pretty stammered. "I'm afraid sir it is, and in ten seconds you will get an emergency ping from the mayor who is convinced, he will also insist you allow Megan freeman and skyler freeman to come on this mission, Megan is to be given all rights over this" shay said. "Excuse me Mr. George, urgent call from the mayor" the receptionist said poking her head into the room nervously.

"Tell him the freeman unit has arrived and I am aware of his orders, we are setting out now" Mr. George said nodding. "Excellent, skyler show him the evacuation plans now-" "I found tally!" shay shouted. "Good, go get her, don't cure her, send her to cable have her confess to what you and tally did, then join us in the fight" I said as I ran my hands through Shiloh's fur.

I then got up and turned around. "freeman unit, this will be a deadly mission, the biggest we have taken on since forming, if you don't want to be a part of it I understand, you may join the evacuation" I said. "Not happening Megan, we are in this until the end" croy said seriously. Everyone agreed and I smiled "well then let's make sure the end of all of this and near" I replied. Then I turned around and walked out of the door.


	15. The battle

I looked out at the wild with hope. Maybe the attack had gotten somehow lost in the wild; maybe Diego was going to be in fact safe from this fate. I looked around at everyone who where full battle geared, they held bows and arrows and in those arrows was enough C4 to blast the cameras out in the pending ships. A group of massive sling shots lined the cities boarders waiting to be used.

In the distances I could hear sirens and alarms as people evacuated out of the city. My hand radio was alive with people talking into it. Shiloh was even still, she probably felt the tension in our group. "MEGAN LOOK!" Ian shouted. I turned around and looked at where he pointed. In the sky approaching us was the first hover craft.

"The attack is starting, I repeat the attack is starting, get all citizens under cover" I yelled into my hand radio. "Everyone first wave set yourselves" I shouted jumping on top of one of our ground cars. A long line of archers pulled their bows back and aimed them at a hover craft. "REMAMBER WHO YOUR GROUP IS! AIM FOR THE SAME CAR!" I shouted as I grabbed my bow and knelt down to aim. Soon the whole front line of enemy hover crafts where in sight.

"AIM!" I shouted as they drew closer. "FIRE!" I screamed. The air filled with arrows and hit the crafts; they blindly swerved as smoke covered the cameras and windows. "SECOND WAVE LOAD UP!" I shouted tossing my bow down and grabbing the controls of a sling shot. Croy then got into the seat of the sling shot and gave me thumbs up. "LAUNCH!" I shouted.

Croy flew through the air and hit the hover craft dead on. I watched as he crawled to the top and released the nano's on it. Everyone else did the same and then jumped off the side of the car. When the crafts fell and exploded teams went to go get the specials that had seconds before escaped. The second wave of hovercrafts shot at us and destroyed our sling shots. The real machines we had been saving as last resort where now being booted up.

I watched as a bomb was dropped blasting skyler five feet forward and right into fausto. Skyler got up and stumbled a little bit but was held steady by fausto. Shiloh was running through the explosions grabbing fallen fighters from both sides. All specials that where brought to us where tied up. We had four specials by the time we retreated. "Get them into the hovercraft make sure they are secured" I said as I jumped onto my board.

We flew back into the city, half in land cars, and half on boards. We arrived just in time to watch town hall explode. "GET IN THERE!" I shouted as smokies zipped up there hoods. Smokies swarmed the site shooting fire foam at town hall and helping a few citizens who were trapped on the sidewalks. I watched as the helicopters were bombed.

I scanned the ground and saw a enemy hover craft hovering right over a helicopter. A littlie was trapped on the side walk right in the blast zone. I leaned forward and shot to the ground. I grabbed the littlie right off the ground without even stopping. The little girl had to be about four years old and she was hysterically screaming.

"HOLD STILL!" I shouted as I unsnapped my crash bracelets and adjusted them on her. "IF YOU FALL DON'T STRUGGLE THE BRACELETS WILL CATCH YOU, IT WILL HURT FOR A SECOND BUT YOU WILL BE FINE!" I shouted as I put distances between us and the explosion to be. The side walk was diminished moments later. The shock wave threw us forward. A Bomb barley missed us seconds later as it was dropped throwing us in a different direction.

I lost my footing and we fell. I grabbed the littlie and held her to my chest and threw myself on my back. I let the littlie go as the crash bracelets caught her and I hit the pavement hard. The wind was knocked from me and I gasped for air. I got up and stumbled to the motionless littlie. She was out cold and her left arm was longer then the right one. I grabbed her and ran through the rubble. I looked around furiously searching for a way out. Then I spotted a group a safe distance away, they had orderlies amongst them.

"OVER HERE! HELP! I HAVE A HURT LITTLIE!" I shouted as I ran to them. The orderlies met us at the edge of the group. They took the little girl from me who was now awake and crying. "We saw what you did what's your name, after this is all over we will make sure this is recognized" one of the orderlies said. "It doesn't matter who I am, I don't do this for recognition I do this because it is right" I told the orderly. I then turned on my toes and ran back into the chaos.

The hover cars where now retreating and everything was calming down. I met up with the other cutters as they entered the hospital. "Come on Megan we can use your help, we are looking for any that was left behind" shay told me. I walked through the hospital for a half hour before I ran into everyone else sitting down in front of a room. "What's going on?" I asked. "Zane is in there, it's not good" shay replied. "Oh" I said with a sinking feeling in my gut.

"Megan there is something else, maddie said she wants to see you, she is at the defense head quarters" fausto added. "Um ok?" I said as I turned around. When I got to the defense head quarter's maddie ran to me and gave me a big hug. "When I lost communication with you I thought you were in the same blast" she said through tears. "The same blast? What happened maddie?" I asked instantly. "Megan sit down first please, sit down" she said pushing me into a lobby chair.

"Maddie what happened" I asked franticly. "Croy and skyler where hit when they dropped a bomb about half way back to the city, they are gone" maddie choked out. I froze instantly. "No" I replied. "Yes, I'm sorry Megan" maddie replied. "NO! HELL NO! FUCKING NO!" I shouted as I got up. "Megan please!" maddie whispered. I got up and pushed maddie off of me and went outside.

I stole a hoverboard and scanned the distance between the first attack and the city hall. Sure enough there was a group of rangers poking around. I landed and was greeted by Shiloh, her fur was badly singed and I could see a nasty burn on her arm. "Excuse me you can't be here" one of the rangers said.

"Can't be here my ass! My name is Megan freeman let me through!" I snapped. "Oh, ms freeman" the ranger said backing up. "Where there any bodies left?" I asked. "Only one" the ranger said pointing at a stretcher with the cover pulled up. I marched right to the stretcher and pulled the cover back. It was croys body, or what was left of it anyway. I dropped the cover not even thinking about what I had just seen and I backed away.

"That's one of my men" I choked. "Did you see a red head ugly boy?" I asked turning to them. "Yes we found him, he is over there" the ranger said pointing to another stretcher. "I thought you said you found one body" I said snapping my head up instantly. "Yes, we found another alive" the ranger replied. I ran to the stretcher to find skyler badly burned.

I cried as I saw his beautiful face charred and burned. "Skyler" I whispered. "Another one of your men?" the ranger asked. I nodded "actually that's skyler freeman, my little brother" I said looking up.

The wait was the worst part, fausto and the other cutters where waiting with me, the freeman unit was with us to. "He is out of surgery, I must warn you it's not pretty though" an orderly said finally. I got up and went into skylers room. "skyler" I said softly. The burns where now healed but the scars ran on his face. "Megan" he said smiling sleepily.

"How come you did not erase his scars?" I asked the orderly behind me. "Because I wanted them to stay, as a reminder to those about what happens when people fight" skyler replied for her. "Skyler, that's, that's-" "something Megan would so do" fausto finished. "Hey guys I hate to interrupt this touchy but we have a problem, we still have to deal with when cable comes back for the second attack" shay said. "well we will have to wait, until then we need to go global, we need to start a feed and put footage up, we need to high light the shit cable has done to you cutters, we can't fight alone, I think I'm going to start by telling my story" I said.

"I think your story would really make a difference, I think all of ours would" shay said. "especially yours and tally's, when tally gets back from cable, if she gets back, we will have her tell her story to" I agreed.

I sat inside of the news office nervous. At noon fashion experts came to get me but I had refused anything, this wasn't to be glamour, I had decided to follow in my brothers suit and not have any scars removed, they needed to all see the scars I had gotten. The one on my face was my most out lining one, it went from my eye down my cheek and could be seen as clear as a bright white light in the dead of night.

Skyler was going to be with me and he had done the same, we dressed in the very same armor we had worn during the battle. "I am here today with Megan freeman and skyler freeman, and they have a story for us, the story of how they started in the smokie rebellion and the affect it has had on them, today we will hear this story" Mr. jenks started. The cameras where pointed at us, the harsh light from it showing our scars in the worst way.

"Why don't you start Megan, you have been with the smokies longer than your bother, how did it all start?" he asked. "Since I was an ugly" I replied. "Wait I thought you joined the smokies a few months after you turned pretty" Mr. Jenks said with confusion. "That's when I actively became a smokie, but it did all start when I was an ugly and this is how. When I was fourteen years old cable became interested in me. I invented a lot of neat things she stole and used for herself, they watched my every move" I explained.

"Do you hate cable for that?" Mr. Jenks asked. "no, I'm grateful she did, because of her maddie became interested in me as well, she did not seek me out though, I came to her, she knew I would be useful and she put me to use, if it wasn't for cable I would not have seen or done the things I have accomplished in these few short months" I replied. "Now I have a question, your parents must be very worried about you two, you both went missing and where thrown into a war, if your parents are watching what do you have to tell them?" Mr. Jenks asked.

"mom, dad, we both love you very much and hope your proud of us, we are sorry we left how we did and are glad you're safe in the city" I replied. "So now Megan can you tell me how it started when you actually joined the smokies?" Mr. jenks asked. I looked up past the camera and smiled at fausto who was watching. "With a game of extreme Frisbee at the park" I replied.


	16. Aftermath

The second wave never happened. Tally had gone to the city and had talked to cable; cable knew all along it was tally and shay that trashed the armory. Cable just wanted a reason to attack Diego. The clean up and recovery was all broadcasted globally and the mind rain began. People demanding for their brains to be turned back normal, the cities complied because they were terrified of a rebellion. The few cities that did refuse where rebelled against.

Maddie sent different units to these cities to start their own smokes. These new smokes sprang up everywhere and soon the whole world was free. With the world becoming free things changed. Everything was different now. I actually went to visit cable as well, when she was arrested for freeing tally Youngblood I went to see her. I remembered that one.

It was three days before the ceremony the city was holding for the smokies, to thank them and recognize them for their work efforts. I knew I was in for a hero's worshipping because maddie mentioned I had a custom hoverboard with a black rose on it, the orderlies remembered the mysterious hover board rider had a black rose on hers so they put two and two together.

I decided to go see cable on a whim; I just hopped on the helicopter and went. When I got to the prison cable waited for me. "so Megan, you should be proud of yourself, you helped end all of this, I have been watching the news feeds, your little story is everywhere, it is sure to be in the history books, I liked the line when you said you where grateful I had shone the light on you, I suppose you came to say thank you?" cable asked.

"No I came to see how you where enjoying prison" I replied. "it's not as bad as I thought it would be, at least I can finally retire and enjoy it in peace" cable replied stretching. "How does It feel cable? To know you where beat by a group of uglies?" I asked. "I feel ashamed that I didn't act fast enough, I'm sorry I never got my hands on you. I suppose you would have ended up like tally in a way if I had made you a special. But then again tally had no choice she was thrown into all of this, you on the other hand, made the choice to be a smokie, you choose to change from a little fashionable pretty to this wild little creature, I can see you even forgot how to match patterns" cable said eyeing my cloths.

"well to be honest I don't really care much for fashion these days, I'm on to bigger things like trying to advance this world, I suppose it will be a lot like when the rusties came out of the dark ages, we will advance vastly in technology and life style, we might bring some old things back, I heard a few people talking about starting a church" I said shrugging. "What about you, what are you up to?" cable asked.

"well I decided I enjoyed hovering around on boards a lot, I think I'm going to make a suit to make someone fly, maybe start a sport or something with it" I said shrugging. "Yes that would seem like something you would do" she said shrugging. My visit with cable went on like that for an hour. The award ceremony was the hardest; they went down the list of the seventeen people that died in the war,

I flinched at Zane and croys name. Once it was safe for people to come in and out of the city again my parents came. Croys did as well and that was hard to. Then they day came when tally's ping arrived. I decided I would join her in the wild but then got side tracked. There was a problem in Diego, the mayor had retired and put maddie in charge, I was going to be her second in command.

A few years later tally called for shay and fausto to go to Japan. I couldn't go because at the time I was pregnant with fausto and I's first child. The baby boy was born a month after fausto got back and he was named croy. Right now I am 27 years old and my last real memory has passed away, Shiloh had died of old age and croy stands beside me. My belly is swollen with my second child who will be named after Shiloh.

In my hands I'm holding a written history of what happened during the smokie rebellion. I drop it into her grave in a metal box filled with pictures, one day when future humans dig it up they will find it, even if one day this is all forgotten one day it will be remembered. "Megan! Croy! Skyler is here!" fausto called from the house. I turned around and walked with my family to join the rest. Inside waiting is everyone who I hold dear. My parents and Fausto's parents.

Ashley, bree, and calie all sit with us; calie became a very good friend of mine just as the other two had been. Skyler and his wife sit with us, they are just starting out. "I got word from tally and David today" maddie says as she walks in. "really? How are they enjoying space?" I asked. "they love it but say Andrew is still talking everyone's ears off, they will come back soon to visit" maddie replied. I smile and look at my family. My family salvaged in hard times.

"Yea I guess that would be great as long as they don't bring Zane with them" I said smiling. Zane was tally's oldest son and he was a trouble maker. "so things have calmed down finally, what do you think we are going to do now?" fausto asked. "I don't know I like it calm to be honest, but maybe a little action could help" I said shrugging.

"Well there are some rumors going around in Africa about illegal animal experimentation, want to go check that out?" fausto asked. "Ah maybe when I don't have a billion pound baby growing inside of me" I said with a shrug. "Yea another little freeman eh?" skyler said eyeing my swollen belly. "Yup" I replied rubbing my belly. "Do you think she is going to be like her mother?" maddie asked.

"Oh I hope not, I don't think I could take another Megan freeman" fausto said smirking. "I don't think this world could handle another Megan freeman either" maddie agreed. I smiled and looked out of the window. This was it, this was going to be my life now, I had helped free the pretties and I had helped prevent more bubbleheads. I had become who I am today because of it all to. I was Megan freeman, inventor and rebellion extordinare, and I had fought hard for a better world where I could raise my children.

The end


	17. END NOTEABOUT THE AUTHOR

**END NOTE**

I must say I really enjoyed writing this fan fiction a lot! I'm so glad I have had so many supportive readers and I really hope it ended in a way you could all love and enjoy. I liked this trilogy by Scott westerfeild because it has a deep message in it about humanity and its negatives; everything in the actual book is something that could very much happen one day.

Of course my fan fiction could happen to but not to the extremes I have written it. Megan was based off of my little brother in a way; yes I know it's odd I made the character a girl. The reason I say my little brother is because he is always making these crazy homemade inventions that can be very clever and very fun.

To make things even I based skyler off of myself, I am a known escape artist and I also thought it be fun to place myself into my writings somehow, all authors place themselves somehow in their work! Now I'm so excited I finally finished a fan fiction, this is my first complete fan fiction I have ever written so I'm going to make this kind of like a real book.

**About the author**

Aorslover504 also known as aorslover is from Warsaw Poland originally, she now lives in New Orleans Louisiana in America and is currently writing her first book to be published. She has three brothers and two cats. Her cats are named Megan and zoey. Aorslover is seventeen years old and enjoys swimming at her local pool and also enjoys dancing to live music at the jazz square in the French quarter. She is also the author of two other fan fictions "the dinami force" based off of "the house of night" series and "the winx club" a popular TV show she watched when she was a child. She currently has plans to start a fan fiction for "the hunger games" series.


	18. Anoucment

Hey all I am so sorry for being so slow in posting new chapters! The thing is I am now engaged and have a full time job so its been pretty hard to keep up! I haven't forgotten you guys! If you would like to see from me more go to WritersQuest, this is a facebook page for ALL writers, good or bad! I am the admin of the page, so feel free to check it out for tips and to talk one on one! New chapters coming at you within the next week!


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